European Indoor Championships: Keely Hodgkinson becomes youngest British champion since 1970

ByEurosport

Published 08/03/2021 at 10:46 GMT

Keely Hodgkinson became the youngest British winner of a European Indoor title for more than 50 years. Britain went into the championships with a target of six to 10 medals, but finished with 12 to equal their record haul in Glasgow in 2019. GB finished third overall in the medal table behind the Netherlands and Portugal.

Keely Hodgkinson

Image credit: Getty Images

Britain's Keely Hodgkinson won 800m gold at the European Indoor Championships just four days after her 19th birthday in a time of two minutes 3.88 seconds.

After a slightly sluggish 400m, she pushed hard with a 30-second third lap and followed up with a 28.23 second final lap to beat a field which included Rio 2016 competitor Joanna Jozwik and former world indoor silver medallist Angelika Cichocka.

"I didn't think about the pressure because I'm only 19," she said.

Olympic Games Paris 2024

‘It’s crazy’ – Edwards amazed world record still stands, hails ‘athletic god’ Bolt

17/04/2024 at 10:52

I still have things to learn. I kept the relaxed state that I was in during the semis.

“I’m not really looking at those expectations,” said Hodgkinson, having been tipped by her coaches Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows to one day beat Kelly Holmes' British record.

“I’m just going to carry on and try and enjoy it and put myself forward with the senior girls because it’s OK saying: ‘Let’s get to the Olympics.'"

Fellow Brit Ellie Baker finished fourth behind Cichocka while Isabelle Boffey came sixth.

In the men's race, Jamie Webb added to his 2019 silver medal to take bronze, finishing in one minute 46.95 seconds.

Andrew Pozzi won silver in the men's 60m hurdles final, equalling his personal best of 7.43 seconds. He finished behind France's Wilhem Belocian.

Sisters Cindy Sember and Tiffany Porter took silver and bronze in the 60m hurdles having been pipped by reigning champion Nadine Visser from the Netherlands.

Jodie Williams added silver to the bronze she won in the 400m as Great Britain's quartet of her, Jessie Knight, Ama Pipi and Zoey Clark finished runners-up to the Netherlands in the 4x400m relay.

The men's team - Joe Brier, Owen Smith, James Williams and Lee Thompson - took bronze in their final.