Success Eduan clocks a personal best 22.43 to defeat Amy Hunt and move to the top of the European rankings, while Zharnel Hughes and Sam Bennett also strike gold in Birmingham.

Success Eduan produced one of the standout performances of the second day at the Novuna UK Athletics Championships when she clocked a 22.43 (-0.9) PB to decisively beat world silver medallist Amy Hunt.

“When I was praying this morning I thought, there’s a reason for my name and let’s not fail today and let’s execute,” she said.

Eduan won the European under-23 200m title last year and is now No.1 in Europe going into the big championships in Birmingham in August.

The Sale Harriers athlete believes there is more to come, especially as she is currently balancing elite sprinting with midwifery exams.

Eduan first impressed in athletics during a cross-country race in Manchester. Aged 11, she hit the front from the start, appeared to be sprinting and barely slowed down.

Prior to that she spent the first nine years of her life in Spain, but after the cross-country race she was advised to train for athletics and soon found her niche as a sprinter.

“I didn’t know how fast I could go today, but I am just thankful and grateful to God that I executed the race that I wanted to,” she said. “It’s only the fourth race of my season, so it is onwards and upwards from here.”

She added: “I always believe in myself, as do all my team and my coach. I have so much more to come. This is still not my full-time thing at the moment. I am still doing midwifery as my degree, so I am really grateful. I know I can work even harder and do more.”

Hunt, who won the UK 100m title less than 24 hours beforehand, led off the bend but Eduan powered past her and on to victory as Hunt clocked 22.64.

Kristal Ama-Awuah finished third in a PB of 22.99 with Dina Asher-Smith running only in the earlier heats and not the final.

Hunt feels she is a little short of speed endurance right now as an injury has forced her to do a lot of cross training in recent weeks.

She said: “We wanted to use it as sort of training because we haven’t been able to train as we would’ve liked to. We have ran up against some really annoying, frustrating issues so it means I’ve spent a lot of time on the bike.

“So, I think that kind of showed in the second half of that race I definitely have that speed, so me and the 100m are getting along better than the 200m, but it just means I need to go and put the sessions in.”

In the men’s 200m, Zharnel Hughes won impressively in 20.04 (-0.5) but it was not, as organisers suggested, a championship record.

Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake was runner-up in 20.35 with Ebuka Nwokeji third in 20.55.

Hughes said: “I’ve achieved what I wanted to get done in the 200m. I’m just grateful to have finished as my body is obviously tired after the 100m (where he finished second to Romell Glave), so I just wanted to come back into this strongly today. I’ve got the gold medal, and I am grateful for that.”

Sam Bennett showed a great return to form to win his first UK 110m hurdles senior crown. The European under-18 gold medallist from 2019 clocked 13.41 (0.4) ahead of former champions Tade Ojora and Daniel Goriola.

“It’s hugely exciting to be the British champion,” he said, “The heats were a bit shaky, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to do as I have done a lot of racing recently. I managed to get myself in shape for this, and the champs to come. I’m racing against some fast boys here, they have quicker PBs than me, so it is really exciting to come out here and win.

“I got two hurdles in, and I knew it was there for the taking, so I am very happy to have put it all together. My finish has always been my strong point. The hurdles were coming at me quickly, so I was a bit scared, but I was excited to finish. I would have liked to have got a faster time, but it is a PB, so I have to be happy with that.”