With seven golds, the GB & NI squad has created history in Espoo, Finland, in recent days

British athletes have topped the medals table at the European Under-23 Championships for the first time in the event’s 26-year history.

With seven golds and 14 medals in total, the squad finished ahead of France, Netherlands, Spain and Norway at the 2023 event in Espoo, Finland, which drew to a conclusion on Sunday (July 16).

British winners included:

Jeremiah Azu – men’s 100m
Yemi Mary John – women’s 400m
Charles Hicks – men’s 5000m
Megan Keith – women’s 5000m
Rory Leonard – men’s 10,000m
Alice Goodall – women’s 10,000m
Alyson Bell, Cassie-Ann Pemberton, Amy Hunt, Aleeya Sibbons – women’s 4x100m

Catch up with our earlier coverage of the championships here.

Silver medallists for Britain included Ethan Hussey (800m), Charlotte Payne (hammer) and Serena Vincent (shot put).

Bronze medallists were Will Barnicoat (5000m), Shannon Flockhart (1500m), Keely Hodgkinson (400m) and the men’s 4x400m team.

On the final night in Espoo, Hussey finished just three hundredths of a second behind France’s Yanis Meziane over two laps as the Briton clocked 1:45.95. In fifth, Sam Reardon clocked 1:47.06 before returning soon afterwards to join team-mates Ethan Brown, Brodie Young and Ed Faulds in the 4x400m as they clocked 3:03.12 in third behind Turkey and winners Italy (3:02.49).

Sophie O’Sullivan and Sarah Healy of Ireland dominated the women’s 1500m as Flockhart fought hard to earn bronze in a PB of 4:08.37. Healy led most of the race but was out-kicked by O’Sullivan in the home straight as the winner ran 4:07.18.

O’Sullivan is the daughter of three-time European and world 5000m champion Sonia and this was Ireland’s first-ever European under-23 title.

The 21-year-old said: “My plan was just to keep up with these girls until like the last 200m before the finish. So, I just tried to stay as close as I could. Then I just had to get going. I did not matter that much about the time but I felt it was my chance.

READ MORE: Leonard and Goodall win 10,000m titles

“Before the race, my mother just advised me to stay as close as I can. She wished me a good luck, nothing too crazy, just to enjoy it. She is still both for me – a great athlete and a mum.”

Long jump winner Larissa Iapichino is also the daughter of an athletics great, in this case the two-time world champion and twice Olympic silver medallist Fiona May. Here in Espoo, Iapichino jumped an outdoor PB of 6.93m (1.2) to take gold as Sweden’s double European under-20 champion Maja Åskag jumped 6.73m (0.9) for silver and Tessy Ebosele of Spain took bronze with 6.63m (0.2).

Elsewhere the host nation won a hat-trick of titles during the week with Juho Alasaari in the men’s pole vault, Silja Kosonen in the women’s hammer and Saga Vanninen in the heptathlon.

READ MORE: Success for Yemi Mary John and Keely Hodgkinson at 400m

The final night in Espoo also saw Greek javelin thrower Elina Tzengko complete a hat-trick of European titles as she threw 60.73m to win under-23 gold to go with the senior title she won in Munich last year and the under-20 gold she took in Tallinn in 2021.