+ A
A -
dpaMunich Dutch runner Femke Bol won the 400 metres hurdles European Championship gold in style late on Friday to complete an unprecedented title double 48 hours after her 400m flat triumph.Bol achieved a feat Karsten Warholm did not manage four years ago but the Norwegian world record holder and Olympic champion at least bounced back from a poor world championships by winning back-to-back Euro gold in the men’s 400m hurdles.The Olympic bronze and world championship silver medallist Bol won the women’s hurdles race in a championship record 52.67 seconds as she beat Ukrainian pair of Viktoriya Tkachuk and Anna Ryzhkova by 1.63 and 2.19 seconds respectively.Bol had on Wednesday won the 400m in a national record 49.44 seconds.No athlete has ever managed a 400m and 400m hurdles double at a big event but Bol’s iconic countrywoman Fanny Blankers Koen won the 100m, 200m and 80m hurdles at the 1950 Euros and 1948 Olympics.“Winning this gold medal is a big relief. It was a great race for me.I am very surprised to achieve such a fast time. It was very hard mentally to race the 400m without hurdles,” Bol said. “I am so proud to achieve the double. I will never do the double again. Well, maybe. Never say never,” she quipped.Warholm had in 2018 won the hurdles and finished last in the 400, and last weekend had told Bol “I wish you good luck ... You’re going to need it” in reference to the gruelling multi-race challenge.He came to Munich off seventh place at last month’s world championships in the wake of a hamstring injury but was untroubled in the final he won in a championship record 47.12 seconds.Frenchman Wilfried Happio took silver in 48.56 and Turkey’s Yasmani Copello of Turkey got bronze after 2016 gold and 2018 silver.“This means everything for me. You should never take anything for granted in sport. I will cherish this moment forever,” Warholm told German broadcasters ZDF.Elsewhere, Zharnel Hughes won the men’s 200m in 20.07 seconds after 100m silver in a British one-two, one-tenth ahead of Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake who had also taken silver four years ago, with Filippo Tortu another tenth back for an Italian bronze.There was no British 200m double because Swiss 100m silver medallist Mujinga Kambundji beat two-two defending champion Dina Asher-Smith by 11-hundredths with a gold medal time of 22.32 seconds. Ida Karstoft of Denmark got a surprise bronze.But Britain could also celebrate Laura Muir who kicked at the bell to retain her 1,500 metres title as she beat Irish rival Ciara Mageean to win a tactical race by 1.48 seconds in 4:01.08 minutes, with bronze going to Poland’s Sofia Ennaoui.Finland’s Topi Raitanen of Finland stunned the Italian favourites to win the 3,000m steeplechase in 8:21.80 minutes, and Lithuanian teenager Mykolas Alekna won his first major discus title with 69.78m, emulating his father Virgilijus who won the Euros in 2006 plus two Olympic and world titles each.Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk improved her personal best by 43cm as she soared to triple jump gold with 15.02m a day after narrowly missing long jump bronze, emulating her husband Mykhailo Romanchuk who won 1,500 freestyle gold earlier this week at the swim Euros in Rome.
