Keely Hodgkinson lands elusive gold by storming to European 800m glory

Keely Hodgkinson finally struck gold as she cruised to victory in the 800 metres final at the European Championships.

After claiming silver at the Tokyo Olympics, Hodgkinson was runner-up again to American Athing Mu in the World Championships, by just by 0.08 seconds, before finishing second to Kenya’s Mary Moraa at the Commonwealth Games earlier this month.

There was, though, no stopping the 20-year-old in Munich on Saturday night as she pulled away over the closing 200m to win in one minute 59.04secs, ahead of Frenchwoman Renelle Lamote.

Poland’s Anna Wielgosz finished strongly to take bronze as Jemma Reekie faded, finishing fifth, with Alexandra Bell in sixth.

“I think you can tell I was very happy to come here and finally get on top of the podium,” Hodgkinson told BBC Sport.

“There is a great team around me, they have helped me all season. It has been a hard year mentally, but we made it to the end.

“Trying to get that gold definitely helped. It is just about trying to forget and move on from it. Now I can go home with three medals, I couldn’t be happier.”

Hodgkinson added: “I still have a world indoor medal (to win) that I don’t have yet and I still have a lot of silvers, so we are going to try and get some golds. I have still got a long way to go.”

Great Britain’s men followed up with a composed display under pressure to take the 4x400m relay title ahead of Belgium and France.

Matthew Hudson-Smith, Charlie Dobson, Lewis Davey and Alex Haydock-Wilson led from the front to finish in a season’a best 2:59.35, holding off a late charge from Belgium down the home straight.

Hudson-Smith, who had won the individual 400m gold, said on BBC Sport: “This one feels a lot better and sweeter because we have got a team and our