Hunt wins 3rd gold as British relay teams dominate. High jump champ Mahuchikh delivers for Ukraine

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Amy Hunt earned her third gold medal as Britain extended its sprint dominance at the European championships by winning both the men’s and women’s 4×100 relay at Alexander Stadium on Saturday.

Hunt, the 100 and 200 champion who on Sunday will bid for a fourth gold this week, ran the second leg for the women’s team that blew away the competition to finish in 42.05 seconds — more than 1 second faster than second-place Switzerland (43.12).

Romell Glave, the men’s 100-meter champion, ran the anchor leg to clinch victory for the men’s quartet in 38.45 seconds.

“We’ve won nearly all the medals, I think,” Hunt told the BBC.

Dina Asher-Smith, who earned her seventh career gold at the European championships, ran the first leg. Hunt handed off to Success Eduan, who brought a big lead to Imani Lansiquot.

“These girls are so phenomenal,” Lansiquot told the broadcaster. “They put me in the best possible position where I could just be free and enjoy it. That will be a memory for life.”

Three-peat for Ukraine’s Mahuchikh

Olympic champion and world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh cleared 1.97 meters to win her third consecutive high jump title at the European championships. It’s the first gold for Ukraine this week.

Mahuchikh is from Dnipro, a city located not far from the front lines of the ongoing war with Russia.

O’Connor golden for Ireland

Ireland’s Kate O’Connor clinched gold in the women’s heptathlon after finishing the final event — 800 meters — in third place. She ran it in 2 minutes, 11.74 seconds.

O’Connor, the silver medalist at last year’s world championships, also won the heptathlon at the recent Commonwealth Games while competing for Northern Ireland.

It was Ireland’s second gold this week. Mark English won the men’s 800 on Thursday.

Women’s race walk world records set

Race walk world records were set in the inaugural women’s half-marathon and marathon events.

Spain’s María Pérez took gold in the half-marathon by finishing in 1 hour, 30 minutes, 6 seconds. About two hours later, 21-year-old Sofia Fiorini of Italy won the marathon title when she crossed the line in 3:15.11.

Both marks constitute world records for disciplines that became official distances only in January, governing body World Athletics said.

“World Athletics set 1:30:30 as the performance standard required for the inaugural women’s half marathon world record and 3:17:00 for the women’s marathon world record,” the governing body explained.

“Pérez surpassed the former by 24 seconds and Fiorini the latter by 1:49, making them the inaugural official world record-holders for the two distances.”

Both world records are subject to the usual ratifications.

The 30-year-old Pérez also holds the world record for the 35-kilometer race walk.

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