Amy Hunt wins 200m at European Championships to complete 100m-200m double
Amy Hunt won the women’s 200 metres at the European Championships at Alexander Stadium on 13 August 2026, taking gold in 22.19 sec to complete a 100m-200m sprint double she began earlier in the meet. The 24-year-old Cambridge graduate held off a late challenge to secure the victory.
The victory came before a crowd of 20,082, the largest attendance of the championships to date, and Hunt was introduced in lane seven while domestic rival Dina Asher-Smith lined up in lane eight. Hunt battled past Asher-Smith and, despite beginning to tie up in the closing stages, had enough to finish first in 22.19 sec; Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke closed quickly to take silver in 22.28, with Asher-Smith winning bronze a hundredth of a second further back. Hunt spent the day before the race playing New York Times puzzle games, including Connections, Spelling Bee, Pips and Wordle, and must now win the 4x100m women’s and mixed relays to bring up a quadruple of gold medals.
After 92 years, Ireland finally has a European Championship men’s gold medallist as Mark English produced a controlled performance to win the 800m. The 33-year-old doctor tracked and then overtook the Croat Marino Bloudek in the home straight to win in 1min 45.26sec, with Bloudek taking silver and Spain’s Mohamed Attaoui claiming bronze. Ireland’s large contingent celebrated English’s victory, while Britain’s Max Burgin was forced to withdraw minutes before the race after suffering an injury in the warm-up; Burgin had also picked up a virus at the Commonwealth Games and failed to make it out of the semi-finals there.
Britain’s Elise Thorner, the 25-year-old who entered the 3,000m steeplechase as the fastest European over the distance in 2026, could finish only fifth as Germany’s Gesa Felicitas Krause took the race. The contest featured a high-profile fall when Germany’s Lea Meyer faceplanted into the water jump while running in the medal positions; Meyer recovered but finished fourth. “It was gutting to see Lea actually fall, because I know her quite well,” said Thorner. “She is an amazing athlete. Shocking to see and trying to get over was a bit mad. But I was pretty spent with 200m so I was hanging on anyway.”
Germany also celebrated in the decathlon as Leo Neugebauer held on to win from compatriot Niklas Kaul after collapsing over the line. Neugebauer’s total of 8,611 points proved sufficient by 38 points, and he appeared to be struggling over the last 50m before falling over the finish line.
The day’s programme was marred in the pole vault when officials failed to raise the bar from 4.70m to 4.80m, leaving athletes under the impression they were attempting 4.80m while the bar remained at 4.70m. A European Athletics statement said that the “results of this additional 4.70m round were cancelled, and the competition was resumed at 4.80m, with all athletes given the opportunity to attempt the height”.
On another front, European 5,000m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, in his first race after 11 months out of the sport, criticised Britain’s Josh Kerr for electing not to race in Birmingham and suggested some athletes were “ruining” the sport by missing championships. Asked if he was disappointed Kerr is not racing in Birmingham, he said: “Very – and I think a lot of people should be, because that is what championships are all about. “It’s not for us as athletes to choose almost where to participate. We have these championships for a reason, and that is for the best athletes to compete – that is the whole point. “So I definitely think it is ruining the sport if we are not participating. We all have different plans, but I could never see myself in that position.” Kerr had broken the world mile record at the London Diamond League in July with a time of 3:42.66 and then won the Commonwealth title a fortnight later but opted out of the European Championships saying he was “flying close to the sun” of injury; Ingebrigtsen described Kerr’s world mile record performance as “an extremely good race” and “a very strong performance” and added: “Everything comes down to what you want to do. People go to work every day. It is not like because you are a professional runner you can’t work every day.”
Hunt’s remaining opportunities for further gold are the 4x100m women’s and mixed relays at these European Championships; victories in both would complete the four-gold sweep referenced earlier in the programme.