Dutchman's finishing flourish takes the U23 champion to senior gold, while Andreas Almgren front runs his way to dominant 10,000m victory.

Stefan Nillessen stunned the Alexander Stadium crowd and his opponents with a finishing surge that swept him to European gold in the men’s 1500m final in Birmingham on Saturday night (August 15).

With the British duo of Jake Wightman and Jake Heyward leading off the final bend and looking set to do battle for gold, the European U23 champion suddenly changed gear and flew past, his closing 100m of 12.60 taking him to the senior title in a time of 3:35.70. 

The move caused chaos as silver went to Samuel Pihlström of Sweden in 3:36.16, with bronze going to Ireland’s fast-finishing Andrew Coscoran thanks to his run of 3:36.24. Heyward faded to fourth in 3:36.24, followed by his team-mates Arlo Ludewick (3:36.65) and former Wightman coming home sixth in 3:37.18. 

The former world champion must be getting fed up of putting himself in prime position, only to ultimately be denied the top prize. At the World Championships in Tokyo last year, another searing finish – from Portugal’s Isaac Nader – pipped him to gold on the line. 

Just last month, at the Commonwealth Games, the Scot was on Josh Kerr’s shoulder with 200m to go but a neural problem in his back that had affected his calf proved critical as he wound up sixth behind the eventual champion. 

With that injury setback seemingly overcome, in Birmingham Wightman’s tactical acumen was to the fore once more as he accelerated with 150m left and edged ahead of Heyward, setting up what looked like being a brilliant closing chapter. It was, but the ending was not one that many would have scripted. 

“This smile won't go off my face for a long time,” said Nillessen. “This gold medal is just insane. I even surprised myself a little with that sprint finish, to be honest.

“I knew I felt good, but you don't know how the others feel. I went to the outside and, with 100m to go I was like: ‘Let's send it, let's go’. I went, felt myself pulling away and looked at the screen 50m later and saw I had the gap. I got more and more excited. When I crossed the finish line, I saw my name. Crazy, really. This is amazing.

“When I got out of bed this morning, I was thinking about a sneaky silver or bronze, maybe, but gold was not something I was expecting. I had a lot of confidence, though, because I felt I was in great shape. I felt like I could compete as an underdog, which probably helped me.”

Wightman, who had led the race through 800m in 1:58.42 before moving back into the pack, was at a loss as to what had happened. 

"I felt like I was in the perfect spot again,” he said. “There was nothing I could have done but  I just don't understand why I felt so bad again. I've had a couple of really good sessions, and I thought that was enough. I'm disappointed, very disappointed.”

Heyward was also far from happy with the outcome, although the fact that the Welshman reached Commonwealth and European finals this summer after only returning to running in January after 20 months away from the sport due to surgery on both Achilles is a significant achievement in itself.

“I came here to win the gold medal and I came up short,” he said. “Tactically, I wanted to try something different and I wanted to go a bit further out. It's obviously a lot easier when you're gaining momentum on people rather than being out there on your own. I mean, Josh [Kerr] made it look a hell of a lot easier in the Commonwealth Games, doing that move!

“I don't regret anything in the end. I ran for gold and, if I'd come away with silver, I'd probably be more disappointed now because you'd just be first loser at the end of the day. I'm here to try and win gold medals, and I went for it.”

Meanwhile, Andreas Almgren produced an extraordinary display of front running to utterly destroy the field on his way to becoming Sweden’s first ever European champion over 10,000m.

The world bronze medallist insisted he had been ready for the cat and mouse of a kicker’s race but, buoyed by the atmosphere generated by the large Alexander Stadium crowd, he took off after three laps and never looked back. 

By the time he hit the finish line, the European record-holder over 10km on the road was surrounded by a swathe of athletes he had lapped, clocking a championship record of 27:23.44 and taking down the mark of 27:30.99 set by Finland’s Martti Vainio back in 1978. 

Swiss defending champion Dominic Lobalu got closest to him with 27:42.67, while French world champion Jimmy Gressier won a sprint finish - and the first European track medal of his career - with 28:07.90 for third ahead of Italy’s Yeman Crippa (28:08.56). 

“I wasn’t planning to go for it and expected a kicker’s race but it was such a good atmosphere and I decided to go for it,” said Almgren, who went through halfway in 14:05.70. “I needed it – in the last five laps I felt like I was dying.”

The first Briton home was David Mullarkey, Commonwealth bronze medallist in Glasgow, who finished 12th in 28:25.58. Fellow countryman Scott Beattie was 15th in 28:50.35, with Joe Wigfield 17th in 29:09.43.