Britain's 4x100m Mixed Relay win completes sprinter's mission, while Dina Asher-Smith moves out on her own as the most decorated athlete in European Championships history.

Amy Hunt brought the house down at the Alexander Stadium on closing night (August 16) as she made her “dream come true” and became the first athlete ever to win four gold medals at a single European Championships, anchoring the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team to Mixed 4x100m relay victory. 

This has been a truly glorious week for Hunt, who combined with Jeremiah Azu, Dina Asher-Smith and Zharnel Hughes to clock 39.97, breaking Germany’s European record of 40.15 from earlier this year.

The 24-year-old Cambridge graduate also leaves Birmingham with gold medals from the 100m, 200m and 4x100m women’s relay, while Asher-Smith created some history of her own as she overtook Polish sprinter Irena Szewinska as the most decorated athlete in European Championships history with 11 medals. 

Germany took silver in an event making its first appearance at the European Championships, clocking 40.11, with Spain taking bronze in 40.42 as Britain completed a clean sweep of the 4x100m relays.

The British team might have had little time to rehearse, but no-one fluffed their lines on the big stage. Part of the mixed relay challenge is adjusting to the varying speeds of the male and female competitors at the changeovers. 

But the home line-up coped with it, albeit that when she received the baton at the final changeover Hunt was marginally behind Germany’s Gina Luckenkemper. Just as she has all week, however, the world 200m silver medallist demonstrated her finishing power down the home straight to cross the line first.

“It’s just a dream come true – I’ll remember this week for the rest of my life,” said Hunt , who contested seven races over seven days. “I’m over the moon and to finish it with some of my best friends in the sport…me and Jeremiah have the same birthday, so we’re kind of twins, so to do it all together is incredible. 

“About an hour ago in the warm-up was when we first did that changeover and look how smooth it was. It was a little bit like when you’re queuing for a rollercoaster and you’re a little bit nervous, you’re seeing the drops and then, when you get off you want to do it again. There was that adrenaline kick, certainly.”

When asked about the achievements of 100m and 200m British record-holder Asher-Smith, whose first appearance at the European Championships came in 2016, Azu said: “When I first started in athletics, it was 2017 and Dina was all that anyone was talking about, so I’ve watched her career, I’ve watched all of her tapes, so it’s an honour and privilege to be in the same team as her.”

There was further medal success for the British team enjoy in both of the final track events of the championships, the 4x400m relays.

In the women's race, an incredibly brave final leg of 49.58 from Emily Newnham came up just short as she threatened at one stage to overhaul Femke Broeders-Bol, but the 800m bronze medallist held off the challenge to take the Netherlands to gold in 3:21.10 as Great Britain took silver in 3:21.68, with Italy third in 3:23.57.

In the men's race, there was an even more dramatic finish. Charlie Dobson had the crowd on their feet with his stirring anchor leg, but he just failed to catch Lorenzo Benati as Britain just missed out on gold by fractions with Italy taking top spot by three hundredths of a second in 2:59.16 to 2:59.19. The Netherlands were third in 2:59.49.