by Stuart Weir
Assessing Team GB
Assessing Team GB’s performance at the European Indoor Championships is not easy. There was no official medal target. Comparing previous championships – 2025 seven medals, 2023 six, 2021, 2019 twelve medals each time – only takes you so far.
The GB team was missing most of its stars – Josh Kerr, KJT, Molly, Keely, Dina and Darryl, Laura, etc – some because of injury, others who were skipping indoors, and possibly some who are perhaps prioritizing the World Indoors over the Europeans. Jemma Reekie told me it is hard to peak in September and February/March. And frankly, if you win a World Championship medal in Tokyo in September, who will care about what you did indoors in March? In any case, the same can be said of every team.
Looking at the medalists, there were some great performances – see the list below. Jeremiah Azu moved up a level with a convincing win. George Mills, so unlucky to be tripped in Paris, ran a positive race for silver in 3000. That he was disappointed to be second behind Jakob tells you a lot about him!
Melissa Courtney-Bryant’s second place in the women’s 3000 was also impressive .
Andrew Robertson, aged 34, ran magnificently to gain a bronze medal at 60m. He is one of the rare breeds of athletes who specializes in indoors.
Revee Walcott-Nolan ran a superb 1500m race to take bronze. Georgia Bell had been a firm favorite to win the race, but when Georgia was having a difficult day, Revee took full advantage to pick up a thoroughly deserved medal.
With five relay medals in Paris, expectations were high – of course, there are no indoor sprint relays indoors. One silver, one bronze, and a fourth place were definitely less than we had hoped.
Beyond the medals, there were some great performances. When I spoke to Jade O’Dowda at the GB Champs, she was unsure if her ranking was high enough to get her an invite to Apeldoorn. She described her fourth place as “bittersweet” – a remarkable achievement with three PRs in five disciplines but disappointing to be in third place for most of the day.
Amy Hunt would never get a medal in the 60, but running a PR of 7.09 in the semi and 7.10 for fifth in the final will give her confidence no harm going into the outdoor season.
Of course, there were disappointments—disappointments of different kinds. Amber Anning was the favorite for the 400 and a comfortable prelim winner until she was disqualified for a lane infringement. Georgia Hunter Bell was the stand-out athlete in the preliminaries but ill for the final.
It was disappointing to see just one out of six in the 800 and one out of five in the 400 progress from the preliminaries. Then, there were athletes performing well in their first senior championship, like Alice Hopkins and Joy Eze.
The medalists were:
Gold
Jeremiah Azu, Men’s 60m
Silver
George Mills, Men’s 3000m
Melissa Courtney-Bryant, Women’s 3000m
Women’s 4x400m Relay
Bronze
Andrew Robertson, Men’s 60m
Mixed 4x400m Relay
Revee Walcott Nolan, Women’s 1500m
