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EUROPEAN ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS – BIRMINGHAM, AUGUST 10-16
17/08/2026 00:00, In Blog /
Welsh athletes enjoyed a medal-laden European Athletics Championships which came to a spectacular finale over the weekend.
Jeremiah Azu led the way with two relay gold medals and an individual 100m silver medals across the championships.
Meanwhile, fellow sprinter Charlotte Henrich claimed silver as part of GB’s 4x400m mixed relay team and helped the women’s 4x400m relay team to win silver.
There were also team gold medals for marathon runners Natasha Wilson and Clara Evans-Graham on Sunday morning.
Azu’s second gold medal of the championships came in the event’s final session on Sunday evening when he launched the Great Britain mixed 4x100 relay team to gold.
The Cardiff Athletics man, known for his brilliant starts, ran a superb first leg before executing a perfect changeover to Dina Asher-Smith.
Britain’s most successful European Championships medal-winner in turn passed the baton on to Zharnel Hughes, who set up Amy Hunt to take the team home and secure her own fourth gold medal of these championships.
The winning time of 39.97 was a new European record as GB finished ahead of Germany in 40.11 and Spain in 40.42.
Azu said after the race:
“I am working with some of the best British athletes in this team. Two British record holders and Amy [Hunt] who’s on the rise and having an amazing championship.
“It’s been great to be a part of it and thank you for coming out and supporting us.”
No wonder Azu had told members of the youth club he runs in Cardiff, that this week’s meet-up had been cancelled in one of his interviews. He was rather busy in Birmingham.
In the men’s 4x100m final the previous evening, the 25-year-old took up his usual place on the opening leg, and once again gave GB a flying start before handing on to Louie Hinchcliffe.
Zharnel Hughes kept up the power on the third leg and once the baton was in Romell Glave’s hands, GB’s comprehensive win was guaranteed in 38.45. Germany claimed silver in 38.64 with Belgium taking bronze in 38.70.
Azu said of the support in the stadium:
"This is super sweet, they came out in their numbers and they made noise. That is all we asked for.
“This team is incredible. At the start of the year, we set up these goals. We’re hitting them off one at a time. It is huge.”
Azu’s medal-winning spree had started on Tuesday evening as part of a GB one-two in the men’s 100m final.
Wales’ fastest man once again got away brilliantly. Such was the speed and power generated out of the blocks, Azu almost stumbled in the early stages.
Last year’s World Indoor 60m champion led in the opening stages, but as the race developed, his team-mate Glave moved into pole position and took gold in 10.09. Azu claimed silver in 10.16
After the final, Azu said:
“I don’t even know what the time was, but it doesn’t matter, even if I had run 10.3, I got the silver medal at the end of the day.
“I got out well; it would have been nice to be next to Romell as I think he got out well too. It’s hard to gauge I haven’t even seen the race back yet, so I’ve no idea what’s happened, but I felt in myself I got out well and held the speed well.”
Azu’s Welsh Commonwealth Games team-mate Henrich had got the championships off to a fine start from a Welsh perspective helping the GB 4x400m mixed relay squad to an excellent silver medal on the opening night.
Joined by Ben Jeffries, Toby Harries and Yemi Mary John, Henrich ran a superb leg as the British quartet got the baton around in 3:10.47, behind Norway, who won gold with a Championship best time of 3:09.62.
A delighted Henrich said afterwards:
“I am so happy, ready for the rest of the week.”
It was certainly going to be an eventful week for the teenager.
During Thursday’s morning session, the Invicta East Kent sprinter narrowly missed out on a place in the women’s 400m final.
Running in the second semi-final, Henrich finished third – missing out on one of the top two automatic qualifying places.
Unfortunately, her time of 50.51 wasn’t quite enough to earn one of the non-automatic qualifying places.
However, a tearful Henrich bounced back with great character the following day to help the GB women’s 4x400m quartet reach Sunday night’s final – winning their semi-final almost three seconds ahead of the field clocking 3:22.35.
There were more twist and turns to come during Henrich’s roller-coaster of a week.
With Amber Anning having to pull out of Saturday night’s women’s 400m individual final during her warm up, the Welsh athlete was drafted into the starting line-up at the last minute and finished sixth in 51.29.
Henrich said afterwards:
“It’s not the way I wanted to make the final and I hope Amber is OK.
“It is such a big learning and it just shows you can’t give up. Anything can happen and the Champs is not done until it is done.
“I have a lot more confidence in myself than I thought I ever would.”
The following evening, Henrich was replaced in the starting line-up for the women’s 4x400, which she had helped reach the final.
The strike quartet of Yemi Mary John, Lina Nielsen, Nicole Yeargin and Emily Newham, claimed silver for the team in a thrilling final.
Earlier in the day, Cockram and Evans Graham helped Great Britain to a team gold medal in the women’s marathon, which was staged on a difficult, undulating city centre course with myriad twists and turns on every lap.
Wilson ran brilliantly throughout the race, leading the chasing pack after Finland’s Alisa Vainio had broken clear from the start. Evans-Graham was also well in contention before starting to drop back through the field in the second half of the race.
After an hour and 50 minutes of running, Wilson herself slipped back through the chasing group, but recovered brilliantly to return to the leaders as they continued to pursue Vaino, who had opened a huge and unassailable lead.
The closing stages saw Wilson battle brilliantly as she dropped off the pack only to re-attach herself again.
However, the Micky Morris Racing Team athlete couldn’t quite challenge for a medal at the end as she finished fifth in 2:27.54.
The dominant Vainio took gold in a championship record of 2:22.26 ahead of Hungary’s Lili Anna Vindics-Toth in 2:27.21 and GB’s Abbie Donnelly in 2:27:33.
With Pontypridd Roadents athlete Evans-Graham finishing 34th in 2:40.01, along with Louise Small (22nd) and Rose Harvey (14th), that meant Great Britain had secured the team gold medal.
“I am really happy with that,”
said Wilson afterwards.
“Last night when the team staff said, ‘make sure you pack your podium gear’, I think that was surreal in itself.
“We were together as a team last night, and it is such a good environment. It would have been nice to get an individual medal, but Abbie got that bronze, so at least it was one of us.”
Evans-Graham, who was part of the team which won team gold in Rome two years ago, said:
“That was really tough.
“I had a really bad day, but I just tried to keep going as I knew there was a team prize, so I tried to keep running. It was probably the hardest course I have ever done,” added Evans-Graham who contested the Paris Olympics marathon in 2024.
“It was a really good crowd and loads of support and flags – it was really nice but it was tough!”
On winning team gold, Evans-Graham said:
“It means a lot. I was in the team that won gold in Rome two years ago, we really wanted to win a team prize and try to defend our medal. So, happy the girls could do that and I could be part of it.”
There were other fine Welsh performances across the week including Jake Heyward, who continues his remarkable comeback from career-threatening injury.
In the 1500m final on Saturday night, the Welsh record holder looked to be in an ideal position to challenge for gold coming off the final bend along with GB team-mate Jake Wightman.
But a perfectly timed late charge from Stefan Nillessen saw him take gold, with Sweden’s Samuel Pihlstrom and Ireland’s Andrew Coscoran following him through to take silver and bronze.
That left Heyward finishing fourth – as he had done at the recent Commonwealth Games – in a time of 3:36.40.
The Cardiff Athletics man, Heyward said afterwards:
“I don't regret anything in the end. I ran for gold and, if I'd come away with silver, I'd probably be more disappointed now because you'd just be first loser at the end of the day. I'm here to try and win gold medals, and I went for it.”
Heyward had cruised into the final on Friday morning with a dominant display in the first semi-final.
The 2022 European Championships silver medallist had been up with the leaders throughout before taking over the race and comfortably leading the field home in 3:35.49.
Unfortunately, Freya Jones (Harrow AC) was unable to make it through to the women’s javelin final as she finished 11th in qualifying group A.
Jones opened the competition with a mark of 52.22m, before improving on that with 53.93m, but was unable to extend that distance with her final effort.
Issy Boffey (Enfield and Haringey AC) was due to contest the women’s 800m but was forced to withdraw ahead of the championships due to injury.
Photo Credit: British Athletics/Sam Mellish