BERLIN – Dina Asher-Smith and Zharnel Hughes landed the men’s and women’s 100m titles for Great Britain at the 2018 European Athletics Championships in Berlin on Tuesday. Click For Youtube Videos
Asher-Smith was in terrifying form in the women’s race after she destroyed her British record with a time of 10.85 seconds, which also equals the fastest time in the world this year.
The victory saw the 22-year-old, who won her semi-final heat in 10.93, becoming the first British woman since Dorothy Hyman won in Belgrade in 1962 to win the 100m title.
“I’m so happy with my time. I came here to be European Champion, so I´m happy to have achieved that,” said Asher-Smith, the defending European champion over 200m.
“I didn’t realised I had won until I turned around. Now, I’m going to have to deal with being the world-leader but I can deal with that.
“Europe is definitely the place to be sprinting, these girls are fast!”
Asher-Smith is now looking forward to defending her half-lap title.
“One race down, let’s see what happens next in the 200m,” she added.
Germany’s Gina Luckenkemper set a season’s best when winning the silver in 10.98 seconds, while defending champion Dafne Schippers from the Netherlands picked up third, also with a season’s best of 10.99.
In the men’s 100m, Hughes turned the tables on British champion Reece Prescod to lead a Great Britain 1-2 finish.
Hughes, who was beaten at the UK championships, held on this time to beat Prescod with a time of 9.95 seconds and improved the previous championship record time of 9.97, which was set by Jimmy Vicaut of France in the semi-finals.
Prescod took the silver medal with 9.96 with the bronze going to Turkey’s Jak Ali Harvey in 10.01.
Vicaut was unable to show up for the finals because of a hamstring injury.
“This was my main focus of the whole season and I am glad I made these fans happy as they were cheering for us a lot,” said Hughes, who owns a seasonal and personal best time of 9.91.
“This is what I really wanted and worked for it. You know, I have got some rocky season, I got disqualified at the Commonwealth Games, so this victory is very important for me.”
He added: “It was a great day for Great Britain winning two golds and one silver in sprints.”
Defending champion Churandy Martina from the Netherlands was sixth in 10.16.
Meanwhile, David Storl was denied a fourth successive European Championships gold in the men’s Shot Put after he was beaten into third place on Tuesday.
The German was pushed back to bronze with 21.44m.
Storl, who won in 2012, 2014 and 2016, entered as a strong gold medal contender but was defeated by the inform Polish thrower Michal Haratyk, upgraded on his silver medal from 2016 to take the title with an effort of 21.72m.
In fact, it was a 1-2 finish for Poland, as European Indoor and European U23 champion Konrad Bukowiecki heaved a national U23 record of 21.66m for silver.
Elsewhere, France’s Morhad Amdouni won the men’s 10,000m gold with a time of 28:11.22, edging out Belgium’s Bashir Abdi (28:11.76) with Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa getting third in 28:12.15.
In the men’s 400m hurdles, Karsten Warholm of Norway, the top man in the event, cruised into the final after winning his semi-finals with the fastest time of 48.67secs.
Turkey’s Yasmani Copello, another strong medal contender, also progressed with a time of 48.88.