Hawkins takes bronze as Great Britain enjoy team success

The 24-year-old was an early pacesetter in Chia, but the strength of Turkey’s Kenyan-born stars came to the fore, Aras Kaya and Polat Kemboi Arikan breaking free as the former took the spoils.

But with Andrew Butchart just 12 seconds behind Hawkins, who clocked 27:49, Great Britain were in a great place to take team honours.

And with Andy Vernon a further ten seconds adrift, Ben Connors fighting to 16th and Dewi Griffiths stopping his clock in 18th place, top spot was secured as Spain and Turkey were forced to settle for silver and bronze respectively.

"I got out a lot better than I thought I would. I thought I'd be chasing but I saw Andy [Butchart] take it on and I thought 'I'll do it with him,'" said Hawkins.

"I think that is the strongest senior men’s team we’ve had, maybe ever.

"We have four Olympians – in our top four we had a sub 13:10 guy (5000m), a sub 61-minute guy (half-marathon) and two sub 28-minute guys (10km). It is a really strong team and we are really pleased to come out with the gold."

But the Turkish one-two saw them top the overall medal table, denying Great Britain top spot for the first time in 14 years – despite further success for the women's team.

Steph Twell was among those at the right end of the race, battling for the bronze medal behind Yasemin Can – another victory for a Kenyan-born Turkish athlete.

But Twell's effort saw her country take team silver, finishing her own race just outside of the medals while 2014 individual winner Gemma Steel ran 12th. Katrina Wootton and Pippa Woolven finished 16th and 17th respectively.

"I am really pleased with that," Twell said. "I definitely had to hold on during the final lap. I wish I could have held on for a medal but I had to work to stay with the group.

"It is great to run against these 5000m runners who I'll be facing on the track again next year."

Sportsbeat 2016