Hodgkinson - a safe bet!

Duplantis, Ingebrigtsen, Mihambo, Hodgkinson ... the last day of the European championships in Rome was the day of the defending champions. Hodgkinson was such an overwhelming favourite that a £33 bet on her to win would have yielded just a £1 profit. Yet such odds did not appear entirely crazy given the Briton’s personal best was three seconds clear of the field.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen sent out a warning to Josh Kerr as he defended his 1500m title in a championship record 3:31.95. The Norwegian took the lead after 600m and controlled the race before winning by 10 metres. No wonder he held one finger in the air like an emperor after completing the ‘triple double’ of 1500m and 5,000m gold in the last three European Championships. Another reigning world champion, Mondo Duplantis, also looked hugely impressive as he cleared a championship record 6.10m – before narrowly missing out on the world record of 6.25m. There was also a sensational performance from Germany’s Malaika Mihambo, whose huge 7.22m world leading distance gave her long jump gold ahead of Italy’s Larissa Iapichino. Earlier in the evening there was a second gold medal for the Dutch star Femke Bol as the Netherlands won the 4x400m relay in 3:22.39 ahead of Ireland, who took silver in a national record of 3:22.71. All in all it was a highly enjoyable championships, especially on the final two nights when the crowds came out in force. And it was only appropriate that the final event on the track ended with a dominant Italy victory in the men’s 4x100m. It meant they finished these championships with a record 24 medals, including 11 golds. Britain ended up third overall with 13 medals, including four golds, four silvers and five bronzes.