Teenager becomes youngest ever women’s 800m European Indoor champion after storming to victory in Toruń, while there is further British medal success in the 60m hurdles and 4x400m relay

Keely Hodgkinson’s rapid rise continued as the teenager produced a performance of real maturity which belied her years to become the youngest ever winner of the women’s European Indoor 800m title.

Just four days after her 19th birthday, she took over from fellow Briton Jane Finch, who won in San Sebastian in 1977, as the youngest gold medallist in this event.

The British indoor and outdoor champion had already impressed in 2021, breaking the world junior record at the end of January. This championship final was an altogether different test from that run in Vienna, however, and she showed great racing intelligence, as well as confidence, to take victory in Toruń.

Hodgkinson’s winning time was 2:03.88 as she held off the attentions of Polish duo Joanna Jozwik (2:04.00) and Angelika Cichoka (2:04.15). Her fellow Britons Ellie Baker and Isabelle Boffey ran 2:04:40 and 2:07.26 for fourth and sixth respectively.

After Baker made the early running Leigh Harrier Hodgkinson had moved to the head of affairs, reaching the halfway point in 65.31 before making her move with around 300m to go. She then demonstrated not just her physical prowess but also her mental strength to reach the line first.

“I’m so happy. You never quite understand the shock when it happens,” said Hodgkinson, who is guided by coach Trevor Painter and former European Indoor champion Jenny Meadows. “You picture it in your head so many times but, when the reality comes through, it’s just a different feeling.

“I didn’t really think about the pressure. I am only 19 and I’m still learning and there’s still things that I’m going to learn. I just wanted to keep my same relaxed state like I did in the heats and the semi-final. Me and Trevor talked about that and we said not to change anything for the final. I just didn’t want to make any mistakes and I really believed in myself.”

Nadine Visser also lived up to expectations in the women’s 60m hurdles as the 2019 champion successfully defended her title in style, while there was also cause for sisters Cindy Sember and Tiffany Porter to celebrate as they secured silver and bronze medals for Great Britain.

The Dutch athlete had underlined her favourite tag by qualifying fastest from the semi-finals but saved her best for the final as she clocked a world lead of 7.77 to produce a commanding gold medal-winning performance.

Behind her, Sember equalled her PB for the second time of the day when clocking 7.89 while Porter’s late lunge for the line not only meant a time of  7.92 but also a bronze medal.

For Sember, who was fourth over the 100m hurdles at the Rio Olympics, this has marked a real return to form following five years of injury struggles while Porter has been working her way back after becoming a mother to daughter Chidera in 2019. This way her first European indoor medal since she won silver at the 2011 championships.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” said Sember. “I’m so happy to be here and I’m so happy that I could do it alongside my sister. We’ve both been through a lot, so it’s amazing to be medalling.

“It’s given me a lot of confidence. I didn’t think I would be able to do the indoors with some things going on, so now that I’ve been able to match my PB, I think there’s a lot more in store and I’m super excited.”

Porter added: “It’s been a huge journey. I’m so pleased and I’m so grateful to be back. I’m running well. The first two rounds weren’t where I wanted to be, but I was like ‘you know what Tiffany, you’ve been here before, just execute a better race in the final, medals aren’t given in the first two rounds’.”

In the women’s 60m, a world-leading time of 7.03 gave Swiss Ajla Del Ponte the title, as she finished some distance clear of the 7.22 clocked by Lotta Kemppinen of Finland and the Netherlands’ Jamile Samuel.

The final track race of these championships was the 4x400m relay, with individual 400m champion Femke Bol to the fore once again as she anchored the Netherlands to victory in a championship record of 3:27.15.

Great Britain had been firmly in contention after Zoey Clark (51.83), Jodie Williams (52.17) and Ama Pipi (52.62) combined to hand Jessie Knight ( 51.58) a slender lead going into the final leg, but Bol ultimately powered away in the closing 100m to break the mark set by Britain in Gothenburg eight years ago.

Britain took silver in 3:28.20, while Poland clocked 3:29.94 for bronze.