World 1500m champion makes fine start to his European campaign in this arduous summer

Jake Wightman has insisted that racing the 800m event at the European Championships has “given him a new lease of life”. After an arduous summer in which he famously won World 1500m gold and followed that up with Commonwealth bronze, the 28-year-old has opted to run the two-lap event in Munich.

His campaign began impressively, finishing fastest for the semi-finals from a highly competitive qualifying stage as he came through to win heat one in 1:45.94 – the race from which the four fastest losers came – and admitted afterwards that he is running with a greater sense of freedom.

“Doing the 800m is a new lease of life for me,” said Wightman, 1500m European bronze medallist four years ago. “I’m not as fresh as I was in Eugene but I only have to run half the distance for this so I’m enjoying it.

“There is less decision making [in the 800m], they are a bit more straightforward than a 1500m which tends to have a lot more variation. The pressure is off for the 800m, so I feel like I’ve got a much freer run at that distance.”

Wightman’s fellow Brits Ben Pattison (1:47.64) and Daniel Rowden (1:47.67) made it through to the semis as the six slowest qualifiers by position were only separated by 0.03 of a second. Surprise eliminations included former world medallist Amel Tuka (1:47.73) and European indoor medallist Mateusz Borkowski (1:47.74).

Another British athlete with 800m on their agenda is Keely Hodgkinson. The World and Commonwealth silver medallist was only 14th-fastest overall but enjoyed a very straightforward win in 2:03.72. Jemma Reekie also impressed with a  2:02.36 heat win while Alex Bell was second in her race in 2:02.43.

As with the men, the athletes finishing in fourth to seventh in heat one took all the fastest losers spots in a race won by two-time European champion Nataliya Krol (formerly Pryshchepa), fastest overall in 2:00.88. The Ukrainian was banned for 20 months in 2020 after testing positive for a banned substance and her pre-2022 best was 2:03.56.

There was also British success in the women’s 3000m steeplechase heats, Aimee Pratt qualifying comfortably from heat one in 9:39.22, while national record-holder Elizabeth Bird looked at ease in heat two and jogged across the line in third with 9:40.05. Elise Thorner struggled with 10:08.46.

Meanwhile, the big names were out in force for the semi-finals of the men’s and women’s 400m hurdles.
World record-holder Karsten Warholm didn’t have a faultless race with a few stutters but was still quickest with a 48.38 win. Ireland’s Thomas Barr (49.30) and Britain’s Jacob Paul (49.48) were the quickest athletes to miss out by time.

“Fresh” from her 400m gold medal the previous night, Femke Bol was a class apart in her 53.73 win. Briton Jessie Knight was a fast-finishing fourth in her heat in 55.39 in race won by Viivi Lehikoinen in a Finnish record 54.50 and entered the dreaded ‘hot seat’ but was jettisoned by a faster time in heat three and ended up 10th best overall.

Lina Nielsen was fifth in her heat in 57.19 and Hayley McLean was fifth in hers in 56.20.

Jodie Williams qualified fastest for the women’s 200m semis with a season’s best of 22.92 (0.3), but Beth Dobbin’s campaign ended prematurely after a false start in heat two.

In the heptathlon, any chance Nafi Thiam had of breaking Jess Ennis’s championship record disappeared after a poor 6.08m long jump. A 48.89m javelin means the Olympic and world champion holds a 172-point lead on a score of 5776 with Swiss Annik Kalin on 5604 and Pole Adrianna Sulek (5560), both of whom recorded long jump PBs with 6.73m and 6.55m respectively.

Noor Vidts (5497) was still in medal contention but world silver medallist Anouk Vetter was forced to withdraw due to an Achilles problem. Jade O’Dowda was ninth on 5252 but Holly Mills only jumped 5.72m and decided to retire before the javelin.

Liveta Jasiunaite was one of two athletes to make the 61.00m automatic qualifying standard in the women’s javelin, with 61.85m, while Barbora Spotakova threw 60.75m to qualify third best. The 41-year-old five-time global champion competed in the 2002 championships in Munich and this is the 2014 champion’s sixth Europeans.

Britain’s Bekah Walton threw 54.20m and was 19th best as 57.40m qualified.

In the men’s pole vault, 5.65m sufficed to get through to the final. World record-holder Mondo Duplantis was only sixth due to a first-time failure at his opening height as only two athletes had perfect records. Most of the big names got through unscathed and three Germans will ensure huge interest in the final but double world medallist Piotr Lisek failed at 5.65m and, after two failures at his opening height of 5.30m, British champion Harry Coppell retired.