Great Britain win men’s sprint relay before error proves costly in women’s race

Great Britain’s men won gold in the 4x100m relay final, but defeat for the women enabled Germany to top the medals table at the European Championships in Munich.

The men profited from a blunder by Germany to win in a championship record time of 37.67 seconds, finishing ahead of France to take the title for a fourth successive time.

Jeremiah Azu was fast out of the blocks on the opening leg and crisp changes enabled Zharnel Hughes and Jona Efoloko to continue the momentum before Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake finished strongly.

The victory put Britain within reach of top spot in the medals table, but in the final race of the championships, the women ‘s 4x100m relay, Asha Philip made a fast start before failing to find Imani-Lara Lansiquot with the baton.

Philip told the BBC: “I believe this team is really consistent, so I’m shocked by what happened out there.

“I can’t really get my head around it. We were so excited because the boys just won in a championship record and we came here to defend our title, but things just didn’t go my way in that race.”

Lansiquot added: “The first thing and any conversations that we’ve had is that we’re a team and no matter what happens we win as a team, we lose as a team.

“The same way we have to experience the highs, we have to experience the lows.”

We're a team and no matter what happens we win as a team, we lose as a team- Imani-Lara Lansiquot

Earlier, Great Britain’s 1500m world champion Jake Wightman had to settle for silver in the men’s 800m.

Wightman, 28, clocked a season’s best of one minute 44.91 secs in the two-lap race to cross the line just 0.06 secs behind Spain’s Mariano Garcia.

It completed a sweep of major medals for Wightman this summer, following his Commonwealth 1500m bronze.

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