Perri Shakes-Drayton wins double gold in European Indoors

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Shakes-Drayton wins Euros 400m gold

Perri Shakes-Drayton sealed double gold at the European Indoor Championships, winning the individual 400m in 50.85 seconds and the 4x400m relay.

In the individual race Eilidh Child won silver in 51.42 with Shana Cox sixth, before the trio won relay gold with Christine Ohuruogu in a British record.

Britain also took gold in the men's 4x400m after being briefly disqualified for an infringement.

Nigel Levine won silver in the 400m and Mukhtar Mohammed took 800m bronze.

In all, Britain won eight medals, with Holly Bleasdale's pole vault title on Saturday making it four golds alongside three silvers and a bronze.

The women's 4x400m team, led off by Child, led from the very first leg to win in a new championship record of three minutes 27.56 seconds, finishing 0.22 ahead of Russia, with Czech Republic getting bronze.

Shortly afterwards the men's team of Michael Bingham, Richard Buck, Levine, who ran a superb third leg to put them in the lead, and Richard Strachan clocked 3:06.96 to finish more than half a second clear of Russia. They were initially disqualified because Buck came off the track but that was overturned when it emerged he had been knocked by a Polish rival.

British quartet win relay gold

Earlier in the day, it was London-born Shakes-Drayton, a 400m hurdles specialist, who caught the eye with her first individual gold at a major championship.

"A lot of people were tipping me for gold," she told BBC Sport. "I said I can't be too complacent - I just wanted to stay out of trouble.

"I just hope it will benefit me when it comes to the outdoors really."

While Shakes-Drayton was one of the favourites heading into her race, Levine had to produce a season's best to take silver in the men's race.

"I can't believe it," the Bedford athlete said. "It's the first time I've made the European final and to get silver, I'm speechless.

"They're all humans, they're all beatable. I just went out there, did my best and finished second with a season's best from lane three."

Asha Philip matched her personal best in reaching the final of the 60m in a tight field finishing sixth, while Chris Tomlinson came in seventh in the long jump, with a leap of 7.95m.

GB men claim Euro Indoor relay gold

However, there was disappointment for 800m runner Jenny Meadows, who finished fourth in her final in a time of 2:01.52.

She led after three laps but faded badly and was overtaken in the final 200m as Ukraine's Nataliya Lupu won the gold medal in 2:00.26.

Meadows was the defending champion, having had her silver medal from Paris in 2011 upgraded when Russian athlete Yevgeniya Zinurova failed a drugs test.

However, she missed the 2012 season through injury and only made her competitive comeback at the British Athletics Birmingham Grand Prix in February.

"It's a difficult situation - I've only been running for 12 weeks," said Meadows. "I said in my team captain's speech not to leave any energy on the track.

"It is really a lack of preparation which costs me because once she went past me and a bend comes up. it's very difficult.

"It dents my ego - I'm a better athlete than that."

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  • Can someone please join me in expressing the frustration of having BBC athletics coverage ruined by the incompetence of Lewis and Jackson. They are so out of their depth and I can sense Cram cringing when having to listen to their analysis. It is toe-curling to watch and a sorry example of positive discrimination at its worst. Get the radio team on TV, they are far more knowledgeable.

  • I've never commented here before but wanted to say well done to all the athletes - great to see some of the younger members doing so well too.

    @stocklord - I agree! I find their commentary really irritating. I don't like to criticise but for me it spoils the coverage. Just because someone was a fantastic athlete doesn't make them a fantastic commentator, sadly

  • Congrats to Perri, Holly and the others that all their hard work has paid off! Keep your eyes on Rio! :-)

  • Congrats and well done to the British team for the medal haul.

    Leave it to the couch potatoes in here to say everything than
    well done.

    Proud of you Team GB and hope its a step forward to reaching your future goals.

  • The criticism of the ex-athlete presenters should not be based on their knowledge, which they have. It is their lack of personality in front of a camera and inability to express themselves in an engaging way. Cram has improved but the others were great athletesand are worse than Alan Partridge as presenters. Mind you, Christine Boxer was even worse.

  • I agree with the comments about the tv coverage, too much talking, I like to watch on tv and listen to 5 live's commentry where possible but half the time they don't even show the races live because it interups their blabbing, most annoying!

  • I have to agree with Duncan. There is far too much talking on the Athletics programmes. We don't want superficial discussion from the "experts". We turned on the TV to watch the action and that's what we don't get enough of at present. Furthermore, there is far too much of "over to Phil" who asks the same all questions of each out-of-breath athlete.

  • 45. DUMPTHECAR

    Why are you continuing to jabber on about the lack of athletics talk on here when you've contributed absolutely nothing to it yourself in about half a dozen posts on this article alone?

    There's still an afternoon of indoor action to come. Looking forward to GB picking up a couple of more medals should we perform in the relays.

  • Indeed, there is too much chatter but this is the same across most sports - snooker is practically unwatchable because of it, and aside from McEnroe tennis commentary is just non-stop sycophancy. Don't let me get started on the drivel that passes for expert analysis on our most popular sport, either! And all this from an organisation that is - rightly or wrongly - bellyaching about budget cutbacks

  • Well done Perri - she is fit too

  • All in all it has been a successful Championship for GB athletes. The future looks very bright. Shame about the BBC mods blocking all comments criticising them though, Kim Jong-un would be very proud of you.

  • So the medal tally vindicated the decision to send a small team all of whom had chances of making the final but I think the selectors missed a trick in not sending a few more junior members to get experience of a major event early in their careers. In any sport, international championships have a totally different feel to domestic competitions with a different set of pressures.

  • The poor commentary by BBC is not restricted to the TV. This very article claims that Nigel Levine had to produce a season's best to claim silver behind Perri!

  • In the understanding that there are Trolls here that know nothing about athletics there is still a point in educating them. They can read after all :-)
    Denise Lewis won gold at Heptathlon. Meaning she is expert at 7 athletis events. Colin Jackson won more titles than any other British Athlete.Not only is he a fantastic hurdler he actually won The European indoor 60.
    He is also a fantastic coach.

  • Have to agree here. Loved the athletics but BBC please pull your finger out! Why do I want to listen to Lewis and Jackson wittering on when we can plainly see action going on behind them?

  • A great result - let's be positive - please!

  • You lot are really pathetic!

  • So the BBC had presenters who were all world class T and F athelets presenting athletics WHAT! Where may I ask was the ex lady jockey? Why no second class gymnast ? No inarticulate ex popular music presenter, no money program boy no football/ cricket presenter who never played the games at a basic level. So BBC what are you thinking of What next an FI pundit whose fastest drive was on her trike.

  • The criticism of the ex-athlete presenters is not just about their presenting skills.
    These are all great athletes and that is what they did best, one or two are good in front of the camera, but four or five is a crowd. Why are there numbers growing, Cram, Lewis, Jackson, Edwards and now Radcliffe! Is this a good use of license payer’s money?

  • @Richard 38.

    No, it's not bias. Jenny Meadows was the team captain. Therefore she was given an extensive interview. With no disrespect to Ms Child, she was beaten by a UK Athlete. The bulk of the interview time will be dedicated to the leading athlete representing this country. I note your complaints did not extend to Shana Cox. I believe she contributed to the UK 1-2. She held everybody else up.

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