Golden performances from Laura Muir and Shelayna Oskan-Clarke led the way for Great Britain on the final evening of action at the European Indoor Championships on Sunday (March 3).

The British team finished the championships second in the medal table after winning six medals on Sunday, which brought the total medal tally to a best-ever haul of 12 (4 gold, 6 silver, 2 bronze).

Bringing Glasgow’s Emirates Arena to its feet for the second time in three days, Muir lined up for the final of the 1500m with the ‘double-double’ of European Indoor middle distance titles – 1500m and 3000m – in her sights.

Immovable at the front of the field from the very start, the multi-medalled Scot had the backing of the sell-out crowd and controlled the pace of the race over the opening laps.

Gradually chipping away to build her lead, a surge in pace with 400m to go saw the gap between her and eventual silver-medallist Sofia Ennaoui (POL) grow, with a relentless final 200m seeing her romp to a historic gold on her home track, stopping the clock in 4:05.92, with the margin of victory some three and a half seconds.

Speaking post-race, the first ever double-double champion said: “I set myself a big test this weekend. There was a lot of pressure on me but I’m so pleased to have done the job and win the double gold.

“So much hard work has gone into this. People only see the race but so much has gone into making that possible. There is a huge team behind me led by my coach Andy, my therapists Derry, Cat and Poora, so I owe a big thank you to them.

“It’s so special for me to do this on my home track. It was such a big opportunity for me so I’m so glad I could deliver.”

Joining Muir in securing the highest step on the rostrum, an utterly dominant gun to tape run from Oskan-Clarke saw the Brit clinch 800m gold.

Photo: European Athletics via Getty Images

Asserting her authority on the race from the very beginning, the silver medallist from the last edition of the Championships charged to the front and led the field through 400m in 60.39, with a pursuit of the title well and truly on.

Holding off the dangerous Renelle Lamote (FRA) as she looked to come by several times, Oskan-Clarke fed off the noise from the home crowd to kick for home with 50m to go, with a brilliant run from gun to tape seeing her cross the line in 2:02.58 to claim the first major international title of her career.

“I’m just so pleased. I loved the feeling of crossing the finish line knowing I’d won gold,” commented an ecstatic Oskan-Clarke.

“I decided beforehand I wanted to go out and focus on getting out in front because I wanted it to be a bit quicker. I would then just work really hard on the third lap. I knew at 150m I just wanted to go, and remembered to pump my arms and turn my legs.

“I know I’m strong, but it is just about making the right moves at the right times. It’s hard indoors because if you don’t do that, it’s too late. I wanted to be out there early and hold on for home. I knew I’d have no regrets then.”

Heading into the final full of confidence following top-two finishes in both his heat and semi-final, Jamie Webb took the bull by the horns in the final of the men’s 800m and wasted little time in mixing it at the front of the seven-strong field.

Photo: European Athletics via Getty Images

Attacking down the inside with 300m to go and ‘running for gold’ as he stated he would do the day before, Webb held silver at the bell and dug in deep down the back straight with the intention of letting no-one by him as he charged for home down the home straight.

Rewarded with a magnificent personal best of 1:47.13 and a hugely eye-catching silver medal – Great Britain’s best result in the men’s event for close to 30 years on the European indoor stage – Webb was unsurprisingly delighted when he spoke afterwards.

He said: “Everyone’s got opinions; I’ve learnt a lot and that I’ve just got to look after myself. People who think because I’m 23-24 going on 25, you’re not going to improve. But you are sort of a master of your own destiny, and I’ve got another six years of improvement.

“I look at people like Nick Symmonds who won Olympic bronze at 30-31 I think. There’s no reason why I can’t be 1:44-1:43s this summer, or 1:42, chipping away. I’ve improved every year and I was a latecomer to the sport. I only started training at 18 properly, very progressively and we’ve got a long-term view – it’s a big 18 months now with world champs all the way through until Tokyo.”

Winners of silver at the last edition of the championships in Belgrade, a strong-looking quartet of Laviai Nielsen, Zoey Clark, Amber Anning and Eilidh Doyle lined up for the final event, the women’s 4x400m relay, with a medal in their sights once more.

Taking the stagger out of Belgium early doors, Nielsen put the team straight into bronze and maintained the position come handing over to Clark. Bursting into the silver medal position almost immediately and only showing sign of tiring come the final 50m, the Scot clung on to second before passing to senior debutant Anning with less than half of the race to go.

Showing no sign of panicking in the Championship environment, Anning appeared serene as she coasted round her two laps while fending off Italy, with a roar erupting as she handed over to home-favourite Doyle who was tasked with running down leaders Poland and keeping Italy at bay.

Eating up the metres on the reigning champions Poland, Doyle just ran out of track as Poland snatched gold in a repeat of the one-two from two years ago as the British quartet clocked 2:29.55 to Poland’s 3:28.77, with the medal bringing the curtain down on Britain’s most-successful showing at the Championships.

GB medal tally (12)

Gold (4): Laura Muir – 1500m and 3000m, Shelayna Oskan-Clarke – 800m and Katarina Johnson-Thompson – Pentathlon.

Silver (6): Chris O’Hare – 3000m, Jamie Webb – 800m, 4x400m – Women, Holly Bradshaw – Pole Vault, Tim Duckworth – Heptathlon and Niamh Emerson – Pentathlon.

Bronze (2): Melissa Courtney – 3000m and Asha Philip – 60m.

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Mark English and Ciara Mageean won bronze medals at the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow on Sunday (March 3).

English clocked 1:47.39 in the men’s 800m final, while Mageean ran 4:09.43 in the women’s 1500m final.

English had to get through to the final on an appeal after being impeded in the semi-final but there was no doubting his metal in the final.

The UCD athlete was at the head of the field from the get go after pre-race adivce from his coach Steve Magness.

“Steve told me to get out from the start and expend some energy so I’ve to thank him for that,” said English. “It was really good to get a medal and it shows the young athletes out there to keep sticking at it.”

This was the Donegal man’s third European medal over 800m – he won bronze outdoors in Zurich and silver indoors in Prague.

Mageean has endured some difficult moments the last couple of years but this was a brilliant response and added to her European outdoor bronze in 2016.

“It can’t always be up, up, up,” all the time said Mageean afterwards. “I run to wear the green, white and gold. It’s brilliant to be back on the podium. I went out there to run my best race.”

Irish marathon champion Mick Clohisey of Raheny Shamrock AC led home almost 700 finishers at the Lusk 4 Mile road race in north Co Dublin on Sunday.

Clohisey finished in 19:16, with Clonliffe’s Ian Guiden second in 19:32 and Padraig Moran of Mullingar Harriers third in 19:52.

Catherina McKiernan of Annalee AC was tenth overall and first woman in 22:49. Ailish Murtagh of Raheny Shamrock was second in 24:48 and Harriette Robinson of Dundrum South Dublin AC a close third in 24:33.

Host club Lusk took the men’s team prize ahead of Raheny Shamrock. Raheny proved best of the women’s teams with Portmarnock second.

At the Kearney and McBride Cup 5km in Co Louth, also on Sunday, Peter Arthur of Liffey Valley AC was the runaway winner.

Arthur’s time of 15:06 put him over a minute clear of Stephen Kelly of Drogheda and District AC who finished in 16:23. Catherine O’Connor of East Down AC was first woman in 18:04 with Sile Carroll of Liffey Valley AC second in 19:14. Liffey Valley won both men and women’s team titles.

A number of the women making up teams in Lusk had already taken part in the third and final Meet and Train women’s two-mile cross country at Abbotstown earlier in the day. This was the first time a club race had taken place at the National Cross Country venue.

Making it a hat trick of victories was Claire Ni Fhaircheallaigh of Dunboyne AC. Crusaders AC pair Fiona Shine and Grainne Regan were second and third, with Sinead Tighe of Bros Pearse AC fourth.

Phil Kilgannon of Sportsworld AC and Aisling O’Connor of Edenderry AC were winners of the Adamstown Community 10km held on Sunday. Their times were 36:21 and 38:01.

Irish junior international athlete Emma O’Brien, representing DCU, won the women’s 5km race at the Irish Universities Cross Country Championships at St Mary’s Galway on Saturday (March 2).

With a time of 19:05, O’Brien finished comfortably clear of her DCU team mates Avril Deegan and Nadia Power. DCU were comprehensive winners of the team trophy ahead of Trinity College and UCD.

Making in a DCU double in the men’s 8km was Paul Robinson, who had a tough battle with Damien Landers of NUIG and out-sprinted him for victory. Robinson’s winning time was 26:40 with Landers on 26:41.

Finishing a distant third in 27:01 was Paul O’Donnell of UCD. DCU was first team, with UCD second and NUIG third. DCU also finished best overall college ahead of UCD and TCD.

Clonliffe’s David Flynn set a new course record of 52:15 on his way to an untroubled victory in the Walled City Derry 10 Mile road race on Saturday.

Second was Gary Slevin in 53:43. First woman was Ciara Toner of Springwell RC in 61 minutes exactly. Catherine Whoriskey of City of Derry Spartans was second in 63:09.

Indoors

Dean Adams of Ballymena and Antrim AC had a narrow victory in the 60m at the Leinster Indoor Championships held in Abbotstown on Saturday.

Adams time of 6.85 secs put him just one-hundredth of a second ahead of Leo Morgan of Clonliffe Harriers who was second in 6.86 secs.

Winning the women’s 60m title in 7.77 secs was Kate Doherty of Dundrum South Dublin, the recently crowned Irish 60m hurdles champion. Sive O’Toole of St LOT AC won the junior women’s race in 7.56 secs.

Israel Olatunde of Dundealgan AC won the junior men’s 60m in 6.96 secs and also took the 200m title in 22.44.

Carla Sweeney of Rathfarnham WSAF AC won the senior women’s 800m in 2:17.14. Winning the senior men’s title was Philip Marron of Ratoath AC in 1:55.68 with Colin Smith of Mullingar Harriers a close second in 1:55.68.

Abbie Taylor of Dundrum South Dublin was a clear winner of the junior women’s 3000m in 10:07.34 with Holly Brennan of Cilles AC second in 10:30.63.

Clonliffe master Snezana Bechtina won the senior women’s 400m in 59.9 secs. Keith Marks, also Clonliffe, won the senior men’s long jump with a 7.30m effort, while Saragh Buggy of St Abban’s jumped 13.09m for victory in the women’s triple jump.

Winning the junior men’s pole vault with 4.40m was 18-year-old Matthew Callinan Keenan of St LOT AC. Taking the senior men’s combined events title with 5151 points was Shane Aston of Trim AC. His best points came in the 60m hurdles and the high jump.

parkrun

Martin Cox ran 15:52 at the MUSA Cookstown parkrun to record the fastest men’s time across Ireland on Saturday, while Rachel Gibson was the quickest woman after running 17:20 at the Belfast Victoria event.

The 10 fastest times at Irish parkruns can be found here.

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Charlie Da’Vall Grice will unfortunately miss the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow due to a foot injury.

British Athletics has confirmed that Sam Atkin will replace him in the GB team for next week’s competition that begins on Friday, March 1.

I’ve had to withdraw myself from Europeans next week due to a busted plantar fascia tendon,” said Grice, who was set to compete in the 3000m.

“Birmingham was unfortunately one race too many and I’m forced to rest up with a torn plantar! You’ll find me at the pool.”

UPDATE: I’ve had to withdraw myself from Europeans next week due to a busted plantar fascia tendon.

Birmingham was unfortunately one race too many and I’m forced to rest up with a torn plantar! You’ll find me at the pool. pic.twitter.com/lLnfsYJ532

— CG (@CharlieGrice1) February 20, 2019

While nursing the injury, Grice still claimed silver in the 3000m at the SPAR British Athletics Indoor Championships to confirm his spot in Glasgow and ran an indoor 1500m personal best of 3:39.04 at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix Birmingham at the weekend.

Atkin ran inside the 3000m qualification standard in New York in January before finishing fourth at the trials in Birmingham.

Atkin will make his maiden senior international appearance for GB in Glasgow, taking the overall number of debutants selected onto the team to 11.

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Scottish athletes savouring a record representation at Glasgow 2019 are reaping the rewards for many years of hard work – and coaches and clubs have played a huge role, too.

That’s the verdict of Stephen Maguire, Head of Performance and Coaching at Scottish Athletics.

Andy Butchart, Zoey Clark, Eilidh Doyle, Neil Gourley, Guy Learmonth, Eilish McColgan, Laura Muir, Chris O’Hare and Jemma Reekie are the nine top athletes selected by British Athletics for the fast-approaching Emirates Arena event on March 1-3.

It is the best representation for Scots on a Great Britain and NI team in more than 50 years for the European Indoor Championships.

“Congratulations to all those selected – it is a tremendous achievement,” said Maguire. “I think for Scottish athletes to compete for GB and NI in a Scottish venue in front of a home crowd will be even more special.

“Nine is a very strong group and representation and, in terms of the numbers, I don’t think we really could have asked for any more.

“Most of these athletes have been competing since the age of 13,14, 15 and have been building towards this with their coaches and the clubs over many years. It’s not an overnight success. That just does not happen in athletics.

“It is lots of miles, lots of technical work, lots of hard graft and lots of sacrifices. That’s what takes you to this point of selection with GB and NI for a European Indoors.

“I think we have true international class athletes here in Scotland – we’re seeing repeated evidence of that in recent performances.”

One look at the history books would suggest that Scottish medals at the European Indoors invariably only number one or two per event (although three athletes did win four medals in Belgrade in 2017).

‘Medals will be hard to come by at Glasgow 2019, for sure,” added Maguire. “There’s talent there in Europe and we’ve seen that in the indoor performances and the rankings.

“But we should not be afraid of what we’ve got. I do think the crowd will be supportive of every GB athlete and I absolutely know they will take the roof off for the Scots.

“One or two medals? My aspirations might be a little bit more than that but indoor athletics is hard to predict. But I’d be very confident that Scots can perform very well indeed at the Emirates Arena in a couple of weeks.”

You can watch the full interview with Scottish Athletics’ Head of Performance and Coaching below.

RELATED: GB name team for Glasgow European Indoor Championships

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Athletics Ireland has named a team of 16 athletes for the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow from March 1-3.

Ciara Mageean, Mark English, Thomas Barr, Phil Healy and Sean Tobin are among the team that has a strong blend of experience and championship debuts.

Healy is ranked fourth in the women’s 400m with Mageean and English (1500m and 800m) both ranked fifth on the European Indoor lists.

English, who won European indoor silver four years ago in Prague, has been in excellent form winning his sixth national indoor title at the weekend.

Mageean has also showed her class in recent weeks and won the women’s national 3000m title on Saturday after setting an Irish indoor mile record last week.

Photo: Athletics Ireland / Sportsfile

Olympian Barr and Cillin Greene have been selected for the 400m, while Tobin, who features in the Fast 10: class of 2019, will race in the 3000m alongside Irish champion John Travers.

There are senior debuts on the women’s side for Molly Scott and Lauren Roy in the 60m, Sophie Becker in the 400m and world U20 silver medallist Sommer Lecky in the high jump.

It’s a good step up for the U20 athletes with three members of the women’s world 4x100m silver medal-winning team running in the 60m with Ciara Neville also an individual qualifier.

Joseph Ojewumi in the 60m and Conall Kirk in the 800m make track debuts, while Siofra Cleirigh Buttner has been selected for the women’s 800m.

“This is a strong Irish team that is primed to put in a performance at this championship,” said High Performance Director Paul McNamara. “Our more high profile athletes have had stellar seasons to date with Ciara, Phil, Mark, Siofra and Thomas very well placed on the European ranking lists.

“This event will provide an excellent transitioning opportunity for our talented crop of 2018 U20s such as Molly, Ciara, Lauren and Sommer while emerging athletes like Joseph Ojewumi, Cillin Greene and Sophie Becker have shown exciting form this season to earn their spots. This will be a good championships for Irish athletics.”

RELATED: Ciara Mageean and Phil Healy among winners at Irish indoors

Women’s selection

60m: Molly Scott (SLOT), Lauren Roy (City of Lisburn), Ciara Neville (Emerald)
400m: Phil Healy (Bandon), Sophie Becker (St Joseph’s)
800m: Siofra Cleirigh Buttner (DSD)
1500m: Ciara Mageean (UCD)
High jump: Sommer Lecky (Finn Valley)

Men’s selection

60m: Joseph Ojewumi (Tallaght)
400m: Thomas Barr (Ferrybank), Cillin Greene (Galway City Harriers)
800m: Mark English (UCD), Zak Curran (DSD), Conall Kirk (Annadale Striders)
3000m: John Travers (Donore Harriers), Sean Tobin (Clonmel)

Meanwhile, the British team of 48 athletes for Glasgow was also named and can be found here.

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British Athletics has named a record equalling number of 48 athletes for the European Indoor Championships on home soil in Glasgow from March 1-3.

Double European indoor champion Laura Muir, Asha Philip and Andrew Pozzi all return to defend their titles from the last edition in Belgrade in 2017.

Muir, who broke the 31-year-old Britsh indoor mile record on Saturday, is named for both the 1500m and 3000m with Melissa Courtney and Eilish McColgan joining her over the longer distance.

The men’s 3000m selection features Andrew Butchart, Charlie Grice and British champion Chris O’Hare.

Robbie Fitzgibbon, Elliot Giles, Neil Gourley, Sarah McDonald and Jemma Reekie join Muir over 1500m.

Selected for 800m are Guy Learmonth, Joe Reid, Jamie Webb, Shelayna Oskan-Clarke, Mari Smith and Adelle Tracey.

There will be a record number of nine Scottish athletes selected on the British team including the nation’s most decorated track and field athlete Eilidh Doyle.

For the second successive major championships there are more women (26) than men (22) selected while there are ten athletes set to make their major senior international debut.

“We are delighted to have selected our biggest and strongest ever team for the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow, which is yet another major international championships for us on home soil,” said British Athletics Performance Director Neil Black.

“Competition for places has been fierce, the SPAR British Athletics Indoor Championships, where athletes are required to compete in order to earn selection, in particular, were extremely competitive across several events and that high level of performances continued at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix Birmingham yesterday.

“With the IAAF World Championships, and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, drawing ever closer, Glasgow is a great opportunity for our athletes to defend titles, win medals and show their quality on a major international stage.

“Once again, we have demonstrated that athletics is a truly equal sport by selecting more women than men with four of those 26 having won European indoor gold while there are a further four who have medalled previously at the event.

“It is fantastic to have our biggest ever contingent of Scottish athletes for a major championships in their backyard and we look forward to watching every single member of the team thrive in front of a home crowd. Glasgow is the last major championships before the IAAF World Championships in Doha later in the year and we expect to be extremely competitive.”

Finally, having been unable to compete at the SPAR British Athletics Indoor Championships and not originally expecting to regain fitness in time for Glasgow, Andrew Pozzi’s selection is subject to the world indoor champion in the 60m hurdles proving his fitness ahead of the championships.

The full British team selected for the European Indoor Championships Glasgow 2019 is below.

Men

60m: Ojie Edoburun
400m: Cameron Chalmers, Alex Haydock-Wilson, Owen Smith
800m: Guy Learmonth, Joe Reid and Jamie Webb
1500m: Robbie Fitzgibbon, Elliot Giles and Neil Gourley
3000m: Andrew Butchart, Charlie Grice and Chris O’Hare
60m Hurdles: David King and Andrew Pozzi
High Jump: Chris Baker
Long Jump: Feron Sayers
Triple Jump: Nathan Douglas and Julian Reid
4x400m Relay: Joe Brier, Cameron Chalmers, Alex Haydock-Wilson, Owen Smith and Thomas Somers
Heptathlon: Tim Duckworth

Women

60m: Kristal Awuah, Rachel Miller and Asha Philip
400m: Amber Anning, Zoey Clark and Eilidh Doyle
800m: Shelayna Oskan-Clarke, Mari Smith and Adelle Tracey
1500m: Sarah McDonald, Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie
3000m: Melissa Courtney, Eilish McColgan and Laura Muir
High Jump: Morgan Lake
Pole Vault: Holly Bradshaw
Long Jump: Abigail Irozuru, Jazmin Sawyers and Jahisha Thomas
Triple Jump: Naomi Ogbeta
Shot Put: Sophie McKinna and Amelia Strickler
4x400m Relay: Amber Anning, Zoe Clark, Eilidh Doyle, Phillipa Lowe and Laviai Nielsen
Heptathlon: Katarina Johnson-Thompson

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There is now only one month to go until some of the world’s leading athletes descend on Glasgow for the European Athletics Indoor Championships.

The athletics showpiece, which takes place over three days (March 1-3), returns to Glasgow next month for the first time since 1990 and there will be 650 athletes from more than 45 nations setting their sights on glory.

The Scottish city continues to build on its reputation as a world-class sporting destination, and today at the Emirates Arena, Andy Butchart and Asha Philip were in attendance to share their feelings ahead of the championships.

The competition will be the second major European event held in Glasgow within twelve months after a hugely successful inaugural European Championships last August. Glasgow continues to receive global recognition for this reputation with a coveted top five ranking as a sporting destination.

British 5000m runner Butchart has turned in some superb performances at the highest level in sport, most notably, at the Olympic Games in 2016 and at the IAAF World Championships in 2017.

The Stirling-born runner will have his sights set on clinching success in front of a home crowd next month as he comes off the back of a major injury which meant the 27-year-old was forced to rule himself out of last year’s Commonwealth Games.

Glasgow 2019 will present a real opportunity to not only perform but a chance clinch success in front of a home crowd.

“The Emirates Arena will be the place to be in early March,” said Butchart. “I’ll put on a good show along with the other Scottish athletes and give the crowd something to cheer about. Super excited to get on the track and race in front of a home crowd.”

The Emirates Arena, built for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, has a capacity of 5000 and is one of the largest indoor sports venues in Europe hosting a diverse range of sporting events throughout the year.

GB sprinter Philip has had nothing short of a fantastic career. She sparked her athletic journey by rewriting the history books as a teenager, as she became the IAAF World Youth Indoor Champion in 2007.

Since suffering a career-threatening cruciate injury, which meant she was unable to take part in any physical activity for two years, she has made an incredible return.

Philip now holds a wealth of titles to her name and can proudly say she is an Olympic bronze medallist and European Indoor 60m champion, currently holding the national record across that distance, to name just a few.

“Now that we’ve officially passed one-month-to-go milestone until the European Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 2019, my excitement levels are very high as I am sure the rest of the athletes are too,” said the Commonwealth gold medallist.

“To have the opportunity to compete at a fantastic event in a world-class venue in front of a home crowd is something that I can’t wait for. The competition will be tough for all athletes, my aim is to keep working hard to make sure I give myself the best chance of arriving in Glasgow in top condition ready to compete for a medal.”

The European Athletics Indoor Championship Glasgow 2019 is guaranteed to give spectators unmissable entertainment.

The full competition schedule is live on glasgow2019athletics.com and with tickets selling out fast, make sure you grab yours for your favourite event.

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