European Championships 2018: Dina Asher-Smith and Zharnel Hughes win 100m gold medals
Last updated on .From the section Athletics
| 2018 European Championships |
|---|
| Venues: Glasgow and Berlin Dates: 2-12 August |
| Coverage: Live across BBC TV, BBC Radio 5 live and sports extra plus the BBC Sport website with further coverage on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, Connected TVs and mobile app. |
Dina Asher-Smith won 100m gold and Zharnel Hughes led a British one-two in the men's event as Great Britain completed a sprint double at the European Championships.
Asher-Smith, 22, won in Berlin in 10.85 seconds, the joint fastest time in the world in 2018 and a new British record.
Hughes, 23, then won the men's sprint in a championship best 9.95 seconds.
Reece Prescod took silver and CJ Ujah came fourth with Imani-Lara Lansiquot finishing sixth in the women's race.
Hughes took gold by just 0.01 from Prescod with Turkey's Jak Ali Harvey (10.01) in bronze as Ujah ran a season's best 10.06.
- Asher-Smith is a world class sprinter - Curbishley
- Britain's Scott and relay team win swimming golds
- Cycling gold for Carlin and Walls takes bronze
- Laugher and duo Toulson and Cheng win diving gold
Asher-Smith, who also won the 200m European gold in Amsterdam in 2016, finished ahead of silver medallist Gina Lückenkemper (10.98) with 200m world champion Dafne Schippers taking bronze in 10.99. Britain's Lansiquot clocked 11.14.
"I am so happy right now. To run a 10.8 in the championships is a big deal," Asher-Smith told BBC Sport.
"I did everything right. I was so happy to nail it in the final because I know there are so many talented people around me but you have to ignore that.
"I wanted the world leading time, but I will try again later in the season. I am hoping to do the same thing in Tokyo [at the 2020 Olympics]."
Victory for Hughes caps a remarkable year in which he has been held up at gunpoint, and disqualified from gold in the 200m at the Commonwealth Games.
He was also part of the British quartet that won the 4x100m relay gold on Australia's Gold Coast in April, but this was his first European medal.
"I am happy and the job is done," he told BBC Sport. "I felt a bit of cramp so I don't think I could have gone any faster but I'm just happy.
"Reece is a fast finisher so I had to stay relaxed as he would challenge me. I am happy we came out victorious."
Prescod, who picked up his first medal at a major championships, added: "It was a really good race and I got a good start. I finished strong too so I am really happy and have had a really good season.
"I wanted some consistency and I've got that now. It is good to have a British one-two and sprinting is in a good place right now.
"It's nice to have someone pushing you. We push each other hard and we run hard - I hope it continues in future Games."
France's Jimmy Vicaut had been the fastest qualifier in the men's 100m semi-finals with a then-championships record of 9.97, but missed the final because of injury.
'Impressive from start to finish' - analysis
Michael Johnson, four-time Olympic gold medallist on BBC TV
That from Dina Asher-Smith was incredibly impressive because of the time - 10.85 was incredible, because she didn't even need to run that time.
It was impressive from start to finish. We know she can start fantastically because she's small, but she really reminded me of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, there's no wasted energy, she's smooth and quick and fast and efficient in her technique. And her foot speed by the way - incredible.
Colin Jackson, two-time world 110m hurdles champion
Really well done to Zharnel Hughes. He was under a lot of pressure and he didn't get the kind of start he did in the semi, which would have put him under a lot of pressure because Reece Prescod comes through so quickly.
But three of the top four are Brits - it bodes well for the relay. It's easy to be the favourite coming in, it's much, much harder to deliver.
Other headlines from day six
Britain won 13 medals on day six at the European Championships, seven of them gold.
There were swimming golds for Duncan Scott in 200m freestyle and the women's 4x200m freestyle relay team, consisting of Ellie Faulkner, Kathryn Greenslade, Holly Hibbott and Freya Anderson.
Also in the pool, Ben Proud took 50m butterfly silver, with Georgia Davies second in the 100m backstroke, while Molly Renshaw won bronze in the 200m breaststroke final.
Matthew Walls won cycling gold in the men's elimination race before Jack Carlin secured Britain's 10th track medal with bronze in the men's keirin.
Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald, who won five medals between them in Glasgow, were fourth in the madison.
In diving, Jack Laugher took gold in the 1m springboard final, while James Heatly secured bronze in the same competition
There was also diving success for Eden Cheng and Lois Toulson, who won the 10m synchronised gold in just their second event as a pairing.
Duckworth leads decathlon - athletics round-up
In the decathlon, Britain's Tim Duckworth holds a 95-point lead after five of 10 events with a personal best in the high jump, clearing 2.17m. Earlier, world champion and favourite Kevin Mayer of France dropped out after three fouls in the long jump.
Elsewhere, Britain's Andy Vernon came fifth in the 10,000m, with fellow Britons Chris Thompson 11th and Alex Yee 14th respectively.
Commonwealth champion Nick Miller finished 10th in the men's hammer final, with a disappointing throw of 73.16m - just four months after setting a Commonwealth Games record of 80.26m on the Gold Coast.
Day seven: Another gold for Peaty? When to watch
Gold medals: 18 in swimming, cycling, diving and athletics.
16:48 - Swimming: Men's 50m breaststroke
Can Adam Peaty bounce back from his first defeat in four years in the 50m breaststroke at April's Commonwealth Games?
17:39 - Swimming: Women's 200m individual medley
Britain's Rio 2016 silver medallist Siobhan-Marie O'Connor goes head to head with one of the sport's biggest global stars - three-time Olympic champion Katinka Hosszu of Hungary.
Network coverage: 08:30-15:15, BBC Two; 15:15-17:15, BBC One; 17:15-21:00, BBC Two.
Radio coverage: 16:30-18:20, Swimming, BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; 19:00-22:30, Athletics, BBC Radio 5 live.
Further coverage: 08:45-12:30 & 14:30-21:00, cycling, swimming and diving, BBC Red Button & 08:30-21:00, uninterrupted coverage on Connected TV and online. 16:30-18;20, Live swimming coverage, BBC Radio 5 live sports extra
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So much talent, bags of potential and could well become a sprinter truly capable of giving the Americans and Jamaicans a run for their money.
Should be nothing but positive comments on here for that performance.
I’m bored of reading small minded comments like yours, but at least get your facts right.
Zharnel Hughes is from Anguilla which is a British Overseas Protectorate, and he is entitled to hold a British passport. He may live and train in Jamaica, but many British athletes train abroad. It’s great to see him starting to realise his potential, and we should be cheering his achievements.
Hopefully it raises her for her other two events: a unique treble is most definitely on!
I'm proud of Dina's sensational world class performance. She's ready to compete with and match the very best global sprinters from Jamaica and the States. Plus she's also so bubbly, fun and likeable.
You go girl!!!
You are an idiot. Hughes was born and raised in British Anguilla. It is a British Overseas Territory, and so he is eligible for GB through that. Nice bit of casual racism though.
Good on her.
Posted by
Andrew
Dina Asher Smith was born in London - very much part of Europe last time I looked!
Im sure she’ll be the new Jessica Ennis type face of British athletics for years to come
For the 2nd time, Zharnel Hughes is BRITISH. I’m sorry your small, bigoted mind can’t accept that fact.
Zharnel Hughes is from the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla, and as such is as British as someone from say the Falkland Islands. As Anguilla is British, he would not be able to compete for Anguilla in the Olympics (they are not admitted) so Britain is very much his country.
And you show your ignorance. Where do you think the likes of Farah and Ennis first had success. It's a stepping stone to greater things to come. How can you not be impressed by Asher-Smith? She was miles clear.