Amy Hunt: How British sprinter surpassed her own goal for gold with historic four-medal display at European Championships

Amy Hunt told Sky Sports back in February that three gold medals in Birmingham was the dream. Six months later, she is a four-time European champion and the first athlete to win four golds at a single European Championships.

Hunt held up four fingers to the camera after winning gold in the mixed 4x100m relay, completing her historic haul.

When Sky Sports spoke to the sprinter in February, the World and Olympic silver medallist was looking ahead to Birmingham and the chance to impress on home soil.

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Dressed in a shimmering gold outfit, her aspirations were clear: "The goal is definitely three golds. [At the] Europeans, that would be an absolute dream."

Speaking to Sky Sports again after exceeding even that lofty ambition, she allowed herself to enjoy this moment of success.

"I think it is definitely important to celebrate the wins when they happen because life is short and you don't win four golds very often," she said.

"I think I have almost run out of words - it has been euphoric, I have been living in such a dreamland."

Her celebrations, though, were relatively modest.

"I had a little glass of champagne with my coach last night, and that was a nice little wholesome celebration for me because it's straight back to work at the end of this week!"

This feels Amy Hunt-esque: four gold medals, a piece of European championship history and then straight back to work.

Winning at home

This year's European Championships were hosted in Britain for the first time, giving many athletes the chance to add medals to their collections on home soil.

Hunt, born in Nottinghamshire, emphasised what it would mean to win at home.

"It is so special to me because it's probably the closest they're ever going to be to my actual home," she said in February.

"It would be really, really special for me to be able to step up and rise to the challenge and take on my home track."

Step up, she certainly did, history made having prevailed in the 100m, 200m, women's 4x100m relay and mixed 4x100m relay.

The journey from silver to gold

Hunt's path to gold has not been straightforward. While impressing in her junior career, her transition to senior athletics was disrupted by Covid-19 and injury.

"I ruptured my quad tendon when I was in the middle of studying. So, we had some challenging times. But we came back."

She's also spoken about the struggles in balancing her studies at Cambridge University with her athletic career.

Overcoming these challenges, 2025 was widely seen as her breakout year internationally as she had an impressive Diamond League season, setting personal best after personal best.

In August last year, Hunt won the 100m final at the UK Championships and claimed her first British senior outdoor title before going on to win 200m silver at the World Championships in Tokyo a month later, achieving her first global individual medal.

This year, Hunt has regularly broken 11 seconds for 100m, and a month prior to the Europeans she won 100m silver at the Commonwealth Games, emphasising her form ahead of the home championships.

"You can have everything you ever dreamed of," she said. "There is no world in which you need to put limits on yourself."

That confidence becomes essential when the margins are so small.

"Any time you line up in a race you have to believe you can win, no matter what.

"Sprinting is a very mental sport, it is a dog-eat-dog world out there, so you have to have confidence on the start line."

British sprinting in fine shape

Hunt's success comes during an exciting period in British athletics, with Dina Asher-Smith also making European Championship history in Birmingham - her gold in the mixed relay making her the European Championships' most-decorated athlete with eight golds and 11 in total.

Despite the rivalry on track between the two Brits, Hunt has nothing but praise for her competitor.

"Creating history together as two young women on a global stage is incredible - who gets to do that?"

Hunt has taken inspiration from Asher-Smith throughout her career, and not just because of what the senior sprinter has achieved on the track: Asher-Smith completed a history degree in 2017 while competing at elite level.

And Hunt said: "Dina is someone I have looked up to my whole career not just for the way she is amazingly quick and a world champion, but the way she handles herself.

"She was one of the first athletes and women to show that you can do a very academic degree and chase that life off the track and still be fabulous on the track."

That resonates particularly strongly with Hunt after her own experience at Cambridge.

"She is very much a role model for myself and so many people out there."

There has also been significant success in the middle-distance events, with Keely Hodgkinson earning 800m silver after an epic battle with Swiss rival Audrey Werro, and Georgia Hunter Bell taking 1500m gold with a dominant performance.

Hunt has spoken about what it means to be a part of this golden generation of female British athletes.

"I have been helped on my way by so many successful and amazing women so now to be in the same conversations is amazing.

"To be part of such a strong generation of young British athletes - and especially young British female athletes - there are so many of us coming out. We're all inspiring each other and helping each other out".

What comes next?

The next Olympic Games are less than two years away, and Hunt will now be approaching them from a very different position to the one she occupied before Paris.

She is no longer simply an exciting British prospect but a four-time European champion.

Now, as Hunt reflects on her history-making Championships, the question is no longer whether she belongs among Britain's leading sprinters but just how far she can take her success.