European Indoor Athletics Championships: Holly Archer wins 1,500m silver after successful appeal

Holly Archer won silver in the women's 1,500 metres final but only after a nervous wait on the results of an appeal

Holly Archer secured a silver medal for Great Britain at the European Indoor Athletics Championships after finishing second in the 1,500m, but only after she had successfully appealed after initially being disqualified.

Archer finished the strongest in a scrappy race won by Belgium's Elise Vanderelst, with several episodes of pushing and shoving.

After a review of the footage, it was determined the Cambridge athlete was at fault, only for the 27-year-old to be reinstated.

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Archer said: "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."

Further medal successes soon followed, with team captain Jodie Williams and Holly Bradshaw claiming bronzes.

Williams, who has moved up from the shorter sprints to compete in the 400m, was in fourth place coming into the home straight but produced a strong finish to cross the line in third.

The 27-year-old's time of 51.73 seconds was a personal best and brought her a first individual medal at a major event since 2014.

Great Britain captain Jodie Williams secured a bronze in the 400m in Poland

Bradshaw then became Britain's third female medallist of the night with bronze in the pole vault.

She had hoped to claim gold but failed with her three attempts at 4.70m and had to settle for joint third alongside Iryna Zhuk behind Angelica Moser and Tina Sutej.

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.

Meanwhile, Britain will have three women in the final of the 800m after the young trio of Keely Hodgkinson, Isabelle Boffey and Ellie Baker all finished in the top two in their respective semi-finals.

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.

Holly Bradshaw was also a bronze medallist in the pole vault

"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 the sole British qualifier for the final of the men's 60m later on Saturday.

Having qualified with a season's best of 6.60secs, Robertson improved again by winning his semi-final in 6.59secs, although Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Oliver Bromby missed out.

Elsewhere, Scotsman Andy Butchart looked impressive in qualifying for the final of the 3,000m as he won his heat, while Jack Rowe also made it through.

Andrew Pozzi is through to the men's 110m hurdles final

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 7.52secs, 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.