Eilidh Doyle finds form at Team Championships

Eilidh Doyle exploded back to top form as she successfully defended her 400m hurdles title at the European Team Championships in Lille, France.

Following a disappointing run at the Rome Diamond League, the Kinross athlete won Friday’s heat in 55.76 seconds.

The final saw Doyle forge into the lead down the back straight rounding the bend two metres ahead of Czech Republic’s Denisa Rosolova before extending her advantage at the finish to a full 10 metres in a season’s best 54.61. Yadisleidy Pedroso (Italy) came through into second.

The Pitreavie/Team Bath athlete said: “That’s what I was looking for – no big stutters and putting together a technically much better race.

“Even there it wasn’t perfect but I think it was the best I could do in those conditions, because it was quite blustery so I made some adjustments to my stride pattern.

“I knew there was a sub-55 in there, it was just putting it all together.”

Maximum points from Doyle helped the GB team to fourth place overall, one point behind France. Jack Green also delivered top points in the men’s 400m hurdles final with 49.48.

Edinburgh AC’s Jake Wightman had to take the long route around in the 1500m final bend and found himself locked in a battle alongside Marcin Lewandowski.

Having held the inside lane, the Pole stole a vital advantage to take the win in three minutes 53.40 seconds with Wightman following in 3:53.72.

Scottish Commonwealth 3,000m steeplechase athlete Lennie Waite also claimed second place, coming through from fourth to second over the final 50 metres for a season’s best 9:43.33 behind runaway winner Gesa-Felicitas Krause (Germany) in 9:27.02.

Maximum points came in the flat 400m where Dwayne Cowan was awarded first place having thrown himself over the line in a personal best 45.46 behind Liemarvin Bonevacia. The Dutch athlete had run under protest following a false start and was subsequently disqualified.

Fastest 100m qualifier Harry Aikines-Aryeetey won in 10.21 seconds and Corrine Humphreys excelled in the women’s final to take third with 11.50.

Nick Goolab was second in the 5000m in 13:59.71 but points were harder to come by in the field events, though Dan Bramble won the long jump with 8m.

Saturday’s programme ended with a disappointing performance in the 4x100m relay where a botched final changeover saw the GB women’s quartet fail to finish. The men, however, atoned as CJ Ujah, Zarnel Hughes, Danny Talbot and Harry AikinesAryeetey led from start to finish in a championship record 38.08 seconds.

Top points proved hard to come by in yesterday’s final day.

Yorkshire athlete Marc Scott, a student at Tulsa University was the top individual points scorer on the track excelling to place second in the 3,000m (7:58.52) behind winner Jacob Holusa.

Fastest qualifier David Omoregie had to settle for third place in the final (13.36) won by Rio silver medallist Orlando Ortega (Spain) in a championship record of 13.20.

Sale Harrier James Bowness claimed third in the 800m (1:48.19) while Nick Miller’s hammer throw of 76.65m gained precious third place points in the field.

The top field performance, however, came from Ben Williams in the triple jump, finishing second with a season’s best 16.73m.

The traditional banker points in both 4x400m finals failed to materialise as the women’s quartet finished fourth. The men’s team also struggled in sixth place.

Final team placings: 1 Germany 321.5, 2 Poland 295, 3 France 270, 4 GB & NI 269, 5 Spain 242.5, 6 Ukraine 236.5, 7 Italy 221, 8 Czech Republic 214.5, 9 Greece 196.5, 10 Belarus 188.5, 11 Netherlands 175.

Eilidh Doyle: finished 10 metres clear in the 400m hurdles.