To win one gold medal is impressive. To win two indicates a certain relentlessness. To win four in the space of one remarkable week of athletics may ensure further recognition for Amy Hunt as the BBC’s sports personality of the year. Ms Hunt’s record‑breaking achievement in winning the 100m, 200m, women’s relay and mixed relay at the first European championships to be held in Britain was an exhibition of world-class sprinting for the ages.
Her triumph capped a week which reminded us that there is more to sporting life than football. By winning an 11th medal, Dina Asher-Smith became the most successful athlete in the history of the competition. And on Friday, at a packed Alexander athletics stadium in Birmingham, the crowd savoured a contest and burgeoning rivalry that recalled the halcyon days of Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett. Audrey Werro, the young Swiss star, and Keely Hodgkinson, Team GB’s Olympic champion, produced a thrillingly intense women’s 800m final, which Werro won with a time that broke a European record set in 1982.
