Jazmin Sawyers wins her first major title with gold in the long jump at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul, edging out Italy's Larissa Iapichino; Great Britain finish Championships with six medals
Sunday 5 March 2023 20:20, UK
Keely Hodgkinson and Jazmin Sawyers both clinched gold for Great Britain on the final day of the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul on Sunday.
Hodgkinson retained the 800m title she won in Torun in 2021 as she crossed the line in a winning time of 1:58.66 seconds and almost two seconds ahead of silver medallist Anita Horvat of Slovenia.
Sawyers followed up by recording a 2023 world-lead jump of seven metres in the long jump to earn her first major title.
Hodgkinson has been in blistering form this year, with Sunday's success following up the women's 600m world indoor record she set in Manchester last week.
The Olympic silver medallist paid tribute to former coach Joseph Galvin after he passed away earlier in the week.
"I've not had time to process it," Hodgkinson told BBC Sport. "This one is definitely for him. He had a lot of belief in 10-year-old me.
"I hope to make him really proud and I know he will be up there watching, along with his wife at home who I know will be so proud of me as well."
Sawyers was made to wait for confirmation of her triumph as Italy's Larissa Iapichino threatened to spoil the party with her final jump, only to come up three centimetres shy.
The 28-year-old, who previously won bronze at the 2022 European Championships in Munich, admitted she had wondered whether a maiden gold would ever arrive.
"I've never won anything. I'm still in shock," she told BBC Sport. "I feel like a seven-metre jump has been in me for so long. It's been so long that you start to wonder if it will ever come. I didn't know it was going to come then.
"Seven metres is a real jump, it won the Olympics. That will give me so much confidence going forward. I just want more of it."
Earlier in the day, Morgan Lake finished tied-seventh in the women's high jump final, while Great Britain's men placed fifth in the 4x400m relay in a season-best time of 3:08.61 with the women finishing sixth in their 4x400m final.
Great Britain closed out the Championships with six medals in total after Laura Muir won a British record fifth European Indoor title with 1500m gold on Saturday.
