Amy Hunt hailed her British quartet of “superwomen” after they successfully defended their European 4x100m relay title to keep Hunt on course for an historic quadruple in Birmingham on a night of back-to-back triumphs for the hosts.
Dina Asher-Smith moved joint-top of the all-time European Athletics Championships medal table with 10, the same as Polish sprinter Irena Szewinska – though the Briton has two more golds with seven and a chance, alongside Hunt, to add another from Sunday’s inaugural European mixed 4x100m relay.
Asher-Smith, Hunt, Success Eduan and Imani-Lara Lansiquot blitzed to the finish in 42.05 seconds ahead of Switzerland, who took silver in 43.12s, and bronze went to Poland in 43.15 seconds.
Hunt, who sealed a European sprint double earlier in the week, when asked about the possibility of becoming the first British athlete to win four golds in a single European Championships, said: “Hopefully! We’ll have to chat to the coaches about tomorrow, but I’m so, so happy for tonight.
“It was incredible to come together with these so inspiring ladies. Everyone had so much going on. We got a midwifery degree, psychology degree, history degree, and this girl (Lansiquot) wrote a play.
“It’s such a privilege to be able to step on the track with these ladies and the individual superpowers that we bring. It’s no joke. We’ve had all superwomen together out there, and yeah, it was so much fun.”
Asher-Smith said she would have to wait to see if she was selected for the new relay event, but appreciated she could become the outright top medal-winner in the 92-year history of the European Championships.
The 2019 200m world champion, who was runner-up to Hunt in Birmingham, said: “That was my aim, honestly, coming into this season. I knew that with the last European Championships, I was getting a bit close, so it was just in my vision board, but not in the forefront.
“I’m proud to have done it. It’s been over a decade of hard work with some incredible ladies and incredible championships. So yeah, I’m very happy.”
Jeremiah Azu, Louie Hinchliffe, Zharnel Hughes and Romell Glave also triumphed in their own 4x100m relay, beating Germany and Belgium to gold in 38.45s.
Azu, who claimed individual 100m silver on Tuesday in a British one-two with Glave, ran a 10.51s opener, while Hinchliffe, Hughes and Glave all dipped below 10 seconds in 9.22s, 9.57s and 9.15s respectively.
Hinchliffe said: “The times don’t matter, getting the gold is the main thing so to get the gold, that’s job done. It was good to get out there and get a medal.
“For us to finish on both men and women getting gold medals in the relay, that’s special. It just shows we need to think bigger and replicate these results at bigger championships.”
Jake Heyward missed out on a medal by 0.16 seconds as the British trio of men’s 1500m finalists were shut out of the podium, and Katarina Johnson-Thompson was 21st of as many finishers in a heptathlon won by Ireland’s Kate O’Connor.