BIRMINGHAM: Eritrean-born German Amanal Petros and Finland’s Alisa Vainio won the men and women’s marathons at the European championships in Birmingham on Sunday.
Petros, the Olympic silver medallist, claimed victory in a championship record of 2hr 09min 11sec, beating by 40sec Belgian Koen Naert’s previous best, set in Berlin in 2018.
Italy’s Pietro Riva, who took European silver in the half-marathon in Rome two years ago, claimed silver in 2:09.18, just 3sec ahead of Ethiopian-born Israeli Gashau Ayale.
Vainio, who finished fifth at last year’s world champs in Tokyo, clocked a dominant winning time of 2:22.26, her long solo effort beating by almost three minutes the previous championship record set by France’s Christelle Daunay in Zurich in 2014.
Hungary took silver through Lili Anna Vindics-Toth, in a personal best of 2:27:21, while Britain’s Abbie Donnelly picked up bronze (2:27:33).
Israel won the men’s team gold thanks to having four runners in the top 12, ahead of Germany and France.
Britain topped the podium in the women’s team event ahead of Italy and Spain.
ASHER-SMITH EQUALS MEDAL RECORD
Dina Asher-Smith equalled the record as the most-decorated athlete in European Championships history after helping Britain win the women’s 4x100 metres relay gold on Saturday, taking her career tally at the continental championships to 10 medals.
The British quartet of Amy Hunt, Asher-Smith, Success Eduan and Imani Lansiquot produced a flawless display in Birmingham, clocking 42.05 seconds to secure victory.
The gold was Asher-Smith’s seventh European title and, coupled with two silver medals and a bronze, drew her level with Polish sprint great Irena Szewinska, who won 10 European Championship medals between 1966 and 1978.
“I am stood next to the real life GOAT (greatest of all time)”, Hunt told BBC Sport of her teammate Asher-Smith.
“She is the most decorated European athlete in history. I am stood next to some amazing women. This girl (Eduan) is a midwife, she brings babies into the world. This girl (Lansiquot) wrote a play. We’re all amazing.
“That was stunning to come together. I had the time of my life.” For Hunt, who completed the 100m-200m sprint double earlier in the week, the relay win sealed a third gold medal of the championships.
DIAZ SHINES
Hunt’s treble gold brought the curtain down on a packed night of track and field that saw the fourth longest triple jump of all time by Italy’s Andy Diaz Hernandez and an outstanding championship record by Germany’s Julian Weber in the javelin.
Arguably the performance of the night belonged to Diaz Hernandez, who went fourth in the all-time list with the fourth longest jump in history with his second-round effort of 18.15m.
Only British world record holder Jonathan Edwards, American Christian Taylor and Spaniard Jordan Diaz Fortun have jumped further.
Reigning world champion and fellow Cuban-born Pedro Pichardo of Portugal claimed silver with 17.76m, world silver medallist Andrea Dallavalle of Italy taking bronze (17.37).
Weber left it late to claim a stunning victory in the men’s javelin, throwing a championship record of 90.40m for a second European gold. His team-mate Nick Thumm claimed silver, with Latvia’s Patriks Gailums going home with bronze.
Weber’s mark beat the previous championship best of 89.72m set by Britain’s Steve Backley in the 1998 Budapest champs.
Sweden’s Andreas Almgren shook off the curse of successive fourth-placed finishes as he won the 10,000m in some style.
The Swede took charge with 22 of the 25 laps remaining and bossed it from the front, clocking a championship record of 27:23.44 for gold.
The time smashed by more than 7sec the previous best set by Finland’s Martti Vainio at the 1978 Prague champs.
Swiss defending champion Dominic Lobalu claimed silver, while France’s world champion Jimmy Gressier rounded out the podium.
SECOND GOLD FOR IRELAND
Heptathlete Kate O’Connor secured Ireland’s second gold of the championships after Mark English’s historic victory in the men’s 800m.
In front of a huge Irish contingent in the crowd, O’Connor needed to stay within 3.5sec of Dutch rival Emma Oosterwegel to seal gold and she did just that in the 800m to end on 6,751 points.
Oosterwegel took silver with 6,713pts, with her team-mate Sofie Dokter claiming bronze (6,664).
Norway’s Henriette Jaeger scorched to a dominant win in the women’s 400m in 49.04sec, a full second ahead of Poland’s Natalia Bukowiecka in silver, with Netherlands’ Lieke Klaver taking bronze.
Newly-crowned 100m champion Rommel Glave also nabbed his second gold, anchoring a British quartet including 100m silver medallist Jeremiah Azu, Louie Hinchliffe and 200m silver medallist Zharnel Hughes to victory in the 4x100m relay in 38.45sec.
Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2026
