GB’s Lorraine Ugen and Marc Scott win bronze medals at world indoor championships

Bronze medals for Lorraine Ugen and Marc Scott spared Britain’s blushes on the final day of the world indoor championships – but they still endured their worst result in the competition since 2006.

On a day when Mondo Duplantis broke his own pole vault world record by flying over 6.20m, and the Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas did the same in the triple jump with an astonishing 15.74m leap, Britain’s celebrations were more muted as they left Belgrade with two medals.

Only twice in history – 1987 and 2006 – have Britain come away with fewer medals from a world indoors. But at least Ugen was smiling after her brilliant bronze, which was particularly noteworthy as the 30-year-old is an unsponsored athlete.

Ugen, who has set up her own company, Unsigned, and sported the logo on her shoes to earn extra money, jumped 6.82m to finish in third behind the gold medallist, Ivana Vuleta of Serbia, who delighted the home crowd with a leap of 7.06m to beat Nigeria’s Ese Brume into second.

“One of the reasons I started Unsigned was to make it less shameful when you don’t have a sponsor,” Ugen said. “I’m world class, I don’t have a sponsor and if anyone is out there, I’m here.”

Scott, meanwhile, showed plenty of poise – and when the situation called for it a lot of pace – to win his first global medal in the men’s 3,000m. In a bumpy race, Scott maintained his composure as the Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes duked it out in front of him before kicking hard on the final lap to sneak a bronze in a time of 7min 42.02sec.

“The race was choppy and bruising but that’s the way it goes,” Scott said after a race won by Selemon Barega. “I have blood on my shin, but I can’t feel that now. I’m sure I will later when all this sinks in. The pain is worth it to