British athletes added three more medals at the European Indoor Championships in Poland on Saturday evening.
The most dramatic came in the women’s 1500 metres, where Holly Archer celebrated winning silver only to be disqualified and then reinstated on appeal by the British team.
There was pushing and shoving throughout a scrappy race but Cambridge athlete Archer was singled out alongside Spain’s Agueda Munoz, who was also penalised.
A counter appeal was eventually rejected, and Archer said: “That was the longest wait ever. It was supposed to be half an hour but it turned into three hours. I feel absolutely delighted. To come so close and then get it taken away, I’ve been on a roller coaster, but I’m really happy to finally get that silver.”
British team captain Jodie Williams and pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw both collected bronze medals.
Williams has made the move up from the shorter sprints to 400m and was rewarded with her first individual medal at a major event since 2014 behind exciting young Dutch winner Femke Bol.
Williams, 27, ran a personal best of 51.73 seconds, and said afterwards: “It’s crazy. I came here to do a job and it’s job done. Last time I came to European Indoors I got fourth so I had to upgrade that.
“I’m really happy. I got a bit boxed in, so I got a bit worried for a second. I knew I could do it. I just dug in and I’m really glad.”
Bradshaw had targeted gold but failed with her three attempts at 4.70m and had to settle for joint third alongside Belarusian Iryna Zhuk behind Swiss winner Angelica Moser and Tina Sutej of Slovenia.
The 29-year-old said: “You can’t sniff at a European Indoor medal, but I’m incredibly disappointed. I felt great. The other girls handled their jumps really well and I just didn’t quite jump as well today.
“It’s been one of my best indoor campaigns ever. Of course it’s disappointing to finish like that but, on the whole, I’ve made some really good progress and stepped it up a notch and I feel like a completely different athlete.”
Britain’s first medals of the event came on Friday in the women’s 3,000m with gold for Amy-Eloise Markovc and bronze for Verity Ockenden.
There is a strong possibility of more female success in the final of the 800m after the young trio of Keely Hodgkinson, Isabelle Boffey and Ellie Baker all qualified for the final.
Baker said: “I’m so happy. It just shows how dominant our GB middle distance girls are. I’m so proud of them as well as myself. I can’t wait for us to put on a show for everyone tomorrow.”
Jamie Webb won his semi-final in the men’s event to secure his progress but team-mate Guy Learmonth missed out.
Andrew Robertson was disappointed to miss out on a medal in the men’s 60m final, finishing fourth in a slower time than he ran in both the heats and semi-finals. Italy’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs was a clear winner in a world-leading 6.47secs.
Robertson said: “It’s very disappointing. I’m getting to the stage where I should be running low 6.50s consistently. Jacobs running 6.47s is a fantastic time, but I should be at least challenging him with the way I’ve been running. It wasn’t a good performance tonight.”
Scotsman Andy Butchart looked impressive in qualifying for the final of the 3,000m, winning his heat in the fastest time, while Jack Rowe also made it through.
Andrew Pozzi carries strong British hopes of a medal as the reigning world indoor champion in the 60m hurdles and is looking to regain the title he won in 2017.
He stormed through the first of five heats in 7.52s, the joint-fastest time of the morning, and said afterwards: “It was a really good time. I had a great reaction from the blocks, which I’ve been missing from the indoor season, so that was really encouraging.”
In the women’s event, there were good runs from sisters Cindy Sember and Tiffany Porter, who safely qualified for the semi-finals. Sember’s time of 7.99s was her fastest since 2017 while Porter clocked 8.04s.
