Key events
10,000m: A 70 second lap and the pressure is on, but Keith hasn’t shook free of Van Lent Battocletti and Koster. They’ve started lapping the stragglers.
10,000m: A stumble, a trip, and Izzy Fry goes down, but like a foal, not a pancake, and quickly picks herself up again and rejoins the pack. And now – with 3k to go, Megan Keith throws down the gautlet and pushes for home. She immediately spreads the field, but Van Lent Battocletti and Koster stay with her.
10,000m. The clock reads 16.16 at 5k, which is slow for lots of these women. Paula Ratcliffe is surprised no-one has put in some surges of energy to break up the field. Tactics, tactics.
10,000m: Things have slowed to a bit of a trundle now with the field bunched right back together. Ah, here comes Merkel to takeover from Keith at the front of the pack.
Shot put (heptathlon): GB’s Jade O’Dowda is currently second in Group B with a throw of 13.69. KJT lies seventh in the same group with a throw of 12.79.
10,000m: GB’s Megan Keith is now leading the runners round the Birmingham track under cloudy skies, foot down and focussed. We’re nearly a third of the way through the race – 17 laps to go.
10,000m: An 85 second lap was too much for Lisa Merkel who has moved to the front and slightly picked up the pace.
10,000m: “Isn’t it funny, if it was a 10,000m road race they would not start like that,” says Steve Cram, as the women slope through the first lap in 78 seconds.
10,000m: Nadia Battocletti, the defending champion, who already has the 5000m gold under her belt, is the favourite in the 10,000m. Poppy Tank, Megan Keith and Izzy Fry go for GB in this 26-woman race. And they’re off…
The heptathlon shot put is up and running. Greek athlete Anastasia Ntragkomirova, whose elaborate face make up is magnificent, currently has the longest throw at 14.98.
“It is the toughest event on the track,” says Seb Coe, who should know.
The penultimate race on the track tonight is the men’s 200m, where Britain’s Zharnel Hughes is the fastest man on the track and has a chance to win a second 200m European gold of his career.
It is almost a sell-out in Birmingham for tonight’s action. As we wait for things to start, the BBC are showing some brutal looking training in the Manchester rain by the M11 track club – 400m sessions that leave Keely and training partner Georgia Hunter-Bell bent over in agony. Respect.
The BBC are starting their coverage with a Keely montage. The goodnatured trio of Gabby Logan, Greg Rutherford and Jessica Ennis-Hill chew over the prospects of the big three.
Audrey Werro could have been injured in that fall, ponders Greg, there could be pain once the adrenaline stopped flowing.
Jessica E-H is worried about Femke Broeders-Bol. “In the heats Femke just sat on Keely’s shoulder and she’s not at her limit, and from what I’ve heard she’s been training very, very well behind the scenes….”
“There’s going to be ten out there, it will be crowded,” says Greg, “I don’t know much about the 800 but my advice to Keely is get to the front, get out of the mellee and run fast.”
Katarina Johnson-Thompson cleared 1.83m in the high jump this morning to sashay up the heptathlon rankings to tenth. Injury has ravaged her season and this is only her second appearance since winning bronze in the world championships last September. The shot put this evening could be trickier…
Current standings:
1 Adrianna Sulek-Schubert 2135 (POL)
2 Kate O’Connor 2134 (IRL)
3 Sophie Weißenberg 2074 (GER)
4 Annik Kälin 2054 (SUI)
5 Emma Oosterwegel 2030 (NED)
6 Sofie Dokter 2026 (NED)
7 María Vicente 2009 (ESP)
7 Noor Vidts 2009 (BEL)
9 Sveva Gerevini 2003(ITA)
10 Katarina Johnson-Thompson 1994 (GB)
11 Lovisa Karlsson 1987 (SWE)
12 Jade O’Dowda 1960 (GB)
The empty seats at Birmingham this week have raised a few eyebrows – though I’m not sure how many people would volunteer to watch an afternoon of anything in 30 degree heat and with little shelter.
Sean Ingle digs deeper into whether the gaps will damage London’s chances of hosting the 2029 world champs.
Friday evening session schedule
All times BST
7:35pm Women’s heptathalon shot put
7:45pm Women’s 10,000m final
8pm Men’s high jump final
8.30pm Men’s Discus final
8.40pm Men’s 400m hurdles final
8.55pm Women’s heptathlon 200m heats
9.25pm Men’s 200m final
9.46pm Women’s 800m final
All hail academic badass and track goddess Amy Hunt, who gets a day off today with the 100 and 200m in her back pocket. Sean Ingle sums up yesterday evening’s race.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to evening five of these sweltering Championships. The ambassador is really spoiling us tonight, so crack open something cold and stretch out that quad.
There are six finals on offer, starting with the women’s 10,000m and finishing with the week’s blue riband event – the women’s 800m. Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson, Olympic champion over this distance, takes on Femke Broeders-Bol, the 400m hurdles World Champion who has doubled her distance this year, and youthful Audrey Werro, who ran the third fastest time in history in June and was reinstated after being tripped and trailing in last in the heats on Thursday.
Birmingham will also be treated to the finals of the men’s high jump, women’s discus, men’s 400m hurdles and women’s 200m, with the shot put and 200m rounds of the women’s heptathlon interwoven through the evening. Let’s dive in!
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2026/aug/14/european-athletics-championships-2026-hodgkinson-chases-gold-in-800m-mens-200m-final-and-more-live
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