Great Britain’s Daryll Neita was one hundredth of a second from gold at the European Athletics Championships as she took silver in a thrilling women’s 200m final.
The Brit was neck-and-neck with Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji in the final straight and a photo finish was required to show who had edged over the line first.
Gold went to the Swiss sprinter, who finished with a time of 22.49 seconds, with Neita right behind in 22.50.
It was heartbreakingly close for Neita but an encouraging performance ahead of the Paris Olympics, where the 27-year-old will hope to add to her haul of two bronze medals from the women’s 4x100m relay in Tokyo and Rio.
“I am distraught not to win that, I’m lost for words right now, really not happy with that. I know I was capable of that gold,” Neita told the BBC.
“I gave everything I had, I mean I think I ran a season’s best but it was not enough and honestly, I’m disappointed.”
“I’m not going to be too negative because I’ve won a medal and it’s a great achievement but I really wanted that gold. I’m really confident in who I am and what I’m capable of.
“I’m definitely going to get back to work because I need to get in much better shape than I’m currently in. There’s still time and I’m still positive about what I can achieve this summer.”
There was another British medal in the women’s 10,000m, where Megan Keith claimed bronze in a time of 31:04.77 behind Italy’s victorious Nadia Battocletti and Diane van Es of the Netherlands.
“It’s been exciting, none of it was what I thought this year would hold, so I’m just rolling with it and trying to soak it all in,” Keith said.
“It was not how I saw it going, my game plan kind of went out the window and obviously 25 laps is always going to be hard. In my head I thought I would try and push the pace on around halfway but because it was so fast, I sat in and was expecting people to fall off the pace.”
McColgan in a ‘tricky spot’
Keith’s was the 10th British medal to be won in Rome, but there was disappointment for Eilish McColgan after she pulled out during the race.
On her chances of featuring at the Olympics, McColgan said: “It puts me in a pretty tricky spot now. I thought today would be enough to show I can get round. Obviously dropping out today puts me in a bit of a sticky position.
“I’ll just do everything I can between now and selection to be in that selection spot.”
Elsewhere, Italy’s Olympic champion high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi claimed gold on home turf with a jump of 2.37m that marked a new championship record.
Femke Bol of the Netherlands dominated in the women’s 400m hurdles final, leading from start to finish to claim gold with a time of 52.50 seconds.
That put her well clear of France’s Louise Maraval in second in 54.24 and fellow Dutch runner Cathelijn Peeters in 54.37, while Britain’s Lina Neilsen was seventh with a time of 55.65.
Norway’s Karsten Worholm toom gold in the men’s 400m hurdles, while Spain’s Jordan Diaz Fortum won the men’s triple jump gold with the third-longest jump ever at 18.18m.