Eilidh Child rose to the occasion and rose smoothly over all 10 barriers to win the 400m hurdles for the GB team at the European Athletics Team Championships in Gateshead.
Already ahead by the third hurdle, the Kinross athlete set a new personal best and Scottish record by over half a second as she clocked 54.42 seconds the fastest time in Europe this year to win by nearly a second.
The Pitreavie athlete, who won 400m silver and 4x400m gold at the European Indoor Championships in March, was delighted with her performance.
“I’m really delighted. On the back straight I started to attack and I’m really pleased. I’m so eager for a final place in Moscow now,” she said.
Team captain Perri Shakes-Drayton led by example as she set a new personal best and European leading time of 50.50 seconds to win the women’s 400m.
The double European indoor champion was in dominant form as she raced away from her opponents.
“I had to set an example as captain. Even though the race came at the end of the day, I had to provide motivation for the rest of the team,” said Shakes-Drayton.
There was also an unbelievable performance over 400m by double Olympic champion Mo Farah.but incredibly over the final lap of the 5,000m.
Halfway through his 12th lap he launched an all-out sprint at the bell and, to the delight of the 11,000 crowd, demonstrated the raw sprinting speed cultivated in hours of training.
By the finish, Farah was 2.91 seconds clear of his closest pursuer, Frenchman Bouabdellah Tahri, as he crossed the line in a modest 14:10.00.
His split time for the final 400m lap was anything but modest, clocked at 50.89 seconds. Farah’s final lap in the Olympic 5,000m final last year was 52.9.
World junior silver medallist Jessica Judd, 18, delivered an outstanding performance in what was her senior international debut to win the 800m.
The teenager has been making rapid strides this summer and was unfazed by the seasoned internationals alongside her as she hit the front with 250m to go and held on to beat Russian Ekaterina Sharmina in 2:00.82.
A new-look GB & NI relay team set a European leading time of 38.40. Adam Gemili got the quartet off to a good start before handing over to Harry Aikines-Aryeetey with James Ellington on leg three and James Dasaolu anchoring the team home.
Dai Greene missed out on a fourth consecutive European Team Championships 400m hurdles title as he finished second in 49.39 behind Germany’s Silvio Schirrmeister.
Nigel Levine led the way in the men’s 400m before being overtaken in the final few metres by Russia’s Vladimir Krasnov. Levine held on for second place in 45.88 seconds.
Turkey’s Ilham Tanui Ozbilen quickly built up a substantial lead in the men’s 1,500m and, treading water in the home straight, only just hung on as Charlie Grice came close to clawing him back, finishing second with a time of 3:39.76.
There was another second place in the women’s 3,000m as Laura Weightman battled strongly down the home straight, clocking nine minutes 03.11 seconds a stride behind winner Elena Korobkina of Russsia.
Scottish internationalist Lennie Waite, a replacement for Eilish McColgan, ran a season’s best of 9:56.19 in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase which earned fifth place.
Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford finished a disappointed third with a best jump of 8.02m as Russia’s European indoor champion Aleksandr Menkov won with 8.36m.
European indoor champion Holly Bleasdale entered the pole vault competition at 4.25m but three failures meant that she did not record a height and as a result failed to collect any points.
A rain-soaked second day saw the high jump moved indoors with the take-off area under water, but it was outside in the arena that the GB team gathered a whole string of third placings in the hunt for a top team place.
Anyika Onuora was third in the 200m, Richard Talbot did likewise in the men’s 200m, and so, too, did Nathan Douglas in the triple jump, Shara Proctor in the long jump and 21-year old Sophie Hitchin in the hammer throw with a UK record of 72.97m.
Tiffany Porter delivered top points in the women’s 100m hurdles with a winning 12.62 seconds but the performance of the day came from Aldershot junior Emelia Gorecka who won the sprint for second place in the 5,000m behind winner Olga Goloukina (Russia) with Gorecka clocking 15:40.52.
Eilidh Child returned to the track to give the 4 x 400m relay quartet the perfect start handing over to Shana Cox in the lead.
Cox held pole position but the third leg saw Meghan Beesley closed down by Russia, France and Ukraine in the back straight before the GB athlete rallied over the final 50m to send Christine Ohuruogu away over the anchor stage. The Olympic silver medallist held a two-metre lead until entering the final 100m before striding away to secure the victory in 3:28.60 seconds ahead of Russia in 3:29.46.
A resounding finale on the track saw the men’s 4 x 400m relay team of Michael Bingham. Conrad Williams, Rhys Williams and Richard Buck win in 3:05.37 ahead of Russia (3:06.09) and Poland (3:06.18).
The GB team finished a commendable third overall with 338 points. Russia’s 353.2 saw them edge out Germany (347.5) over the closing events at the head of the table.