British sprint superstar Amy Hunt claims third European Championships gold as Team GB win the women’s AND men’s 100m relays – with ‘track goddess’ on course for historic fourth on Sunday

Dina Asher-Smith handed a baton to Amy Hunt at 9.52pm on Saturday night and around 31 seconds later, Britain’s newest sprint hero had a third gold medal from these European Championships. The symbolism was almost as blunt as Hunt is quick.

On a chilly evening in Birmingham, when both the host nation’s male and female quartets proved their 4x100m supremacy with victories, it was once again this daughter of Newark who stood tallest in their collective achievements.

For all the sport we have seen in the past week, there is no doubting that the show has been stolen by a 24-year-old who might well have a record-breaking fourth gold before the curtain falls on Sunday night. Given how these relays played out, the jeopardy of the mixed 4x100m, combining the best of both sexes, is distinctly minimal.

The latest gold in Hunt’s set was secured by procession, with Britain’s four of Asher-Smith, Hunt, Success Eduan and Imani Lansiquot annihilating second-placed Switzerland by a full 1.07 sec, crossing in 42.05sec. Who was the fastest of the four women? That would be Hunt, of course.

But let’s add a caveat – when she took the baton on the second leg from her predecessor as Britain’s sprint queen, Asher-Smith, a lead had already been gifted to her. Using those long strides, Hunt then ticked off her stretch in 10.10sec, Eduan built the gap for Lansiquot, and from there the gold was in safe hands.

As with so much around Hunt’s trip to Birmingham, we should add that the big beasts of global sprinting do not live in Europe.

Picking up her third gold of this European Championships, Hunt has a historic fourth in sight

To that point, Hunt would be entitled to remind us she already has a world 200m silver medal, but by timings she still has a lot of ground to make up if she is to be a serious player at the LA Olympics in 2028. On this trajectory, with her talent, it should not be ruled out, and nor should we overlook another fact – it was the seventh European gold of Asher-Smith’s career. Hunt may have passed the 30-year-old in the present but not in the historical picture.

But those are thoughts for another day. On this one, Hunt maintained her 100 per cent record as this meet and had some kind words for Asher-Smith, which might be pertinent given the ongoing chatter about whether there has been a peaceful transition of power between domestic rivals.

‘I’m stood next to Dina, she’s the most decorated European athlete in history,’ said Hunt. ‘She has got thousands of medals.

‘I’m stood next to some amazing women. This girl, Success, is a midwife, she brings new babies into the world. Imani, that girl wrote a play.‘That was stunning for it to come together. It’s the time of my life. We have won nearly all of the medals, haven’t we? We have relay camps which mean we can come out here and put on a masterclass from both the teams. So proud of everyone.’

The broader point about the team was relevant – success and failure have often gone hand in hand for British relay quartets. Feast or farce has often been the way.

In Birmingham, the relays followed the pattern of the individual races, with the men’s team of Jeremiah Azu, Louis Hinchliffe, Zharnel Hughes and Romell Glave winning gold a short while earlier.

On the basis that they had both the men’s champion in Glave and his nearest challenger, Azu, the British quartet were always the heavy favourite in the first of the two relays. Their comfort in qualifying fastest for the final only underlined the point.

Asher-Smith handed off the baton to Hunt – but although Hunt is on the ascendancy, her heavily decorated team-mate has the edge in the historical picture

Their triumph came hot on the heels of their male counterparts blowing away the competition (pictured left to right: Zharnel Hughes, Jeremiah Azu, Louie Hinchliffe and Romell Glave)

But it didn’t start well when Azu trailed Italy’s Eric Merek to the first handover. That was unscripted and yet it was corrected by a scorching leg from Louis Hinchcliffe, who saw off his portion in 9.22sec before setting loose the 200m silver medallist Zharnel Hughes with a lead to protect.

With a clean change to Glave, a rapid charge of 9.15sec saw the Brits cross in 38.45sec, 0.19sec clear of Germany with Belgium in third.

Earlier, Jake Heyward slipped from gold to fourth on the final straight in his bid to land a 1500m medal.

For the entirety of the last lap, the Brit was locked in a battle for gold with his team-mate Jake Wightman, but both men succumbed to an astonishing surge across the closing 90m by the giant Dutchman Stefan Nillessen. They were also passed by Samuel Pihlstrom of Sweden and Ireland’s Andrew Coscoran.

Heyward, who was also fourth at the Commonwealth Games, will presumably draw on some perspective by knowing he only returned to racing in the summer after a two-year absence due to multiple surgeries on his Achilles tendon. Running with neither a shoe deal nor a full-time coach, the 27-year-old had threatened one of the most shock results of the championships.