BUTCHERED & EATEN ALIVE
Andy admits he was dead meat in Euro final
ANDREW BUTCHART admitted he got “eaten alive” after finishing a lowly seventh in the 3000 metres final at the European Indoor Championships.
The Scottish record holder, 29, was jammed in and could not escape as Norwegian star Jakob Ingebrigtsen surged to a golden double by winning in a personal best of 7:48.20.
And Butchart, who came 10th in the 2019 final in Glasgow, will now go soul searching ahead of his hunt for an Olympic spot.
He said: “The tactics were just to run the race as it was.
“When Jakob hit the front, I realised it was dead slow.
“It was four or five abreast and I thought, ‘Do I go around everybody or try and sneak up the inside?’.
“Neither really happened and I got stuck. You can’t give these guys a metre or you get eaten alive. And that’s what happened,
“I got eaten alive. It’s just not good enough.”
Sister act Cindy Sember and Tiffany Porter bagged silver and bronze in the women’s 60m hurdles as Dutch ace Nadine Visser defended her title.
And world indoor champ Andrew Pozzi was also forced to find a silver lining despite equalling his personal best of 7.43 secs in the men’s 60m hurdles final with France’s Wilhem Belocian pipping him to the line.
Meanwhile, Keely Hodgkinson claimed she’s got Jemma Reekie in her sights after scoring a stunning 800 metres gold.
Four days after her 19th birthday, the Wigan wonderkid held her nerve in a sprint for glory to win in 2:03.88.
It helped put the Brits in third place in the final standings with 12 medals overall.
But Hodgkinson has now announced herself as a massive prospect for the future with a world Under-20 record in 2021. And Scots star Reekie, who turned 23 on Saturday, is the perfect target heading towards the Tokyo Olympics.
She said: “I’ve looked up to Jemma and when she had that breakthrough year last year, it was incredible. Hopefully I can challenge her.”
Aberdonian Zoey Clark led GB&NI to a superb silver in the women’s 4x400 relay final and then set her sights on an Olympic debut.
The Scot, 26, said: “We’ve got great depth in this country. It’s just going to help us raise the bar going to Tokyo.”