GB relay teams power into European Championship finals as Amy Hunt chases a third gold
Great Britain's women's and men's 4x100m relay teams qualified for their finals with convincing heat victories at the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, setting up a Saturday evening showdown on home soil. BBC Sport
The women's quartet, featuring Amy Hunt, won their heat in 42.33 seconds — the fastest time of the qualifying round. BBC Sport (Facebook) The men's team, with Zharnel Hughes on the roster, joined them in the final with a similarly assured performance. Both finals are scheduled for later on Saturday. BBC Sport
For Hunt, the relay final arrives at the end of a championship that has already belonged to her. The 23-year-old won the women's 100m gold on Day 1, becoming the fastest woman in Europe. British Athletics Three days later she added the 200m title, clocking 22.19 seconds to complete the sprint double — winning both the shortest and the next-shortest individual track races at the same championships, a feat only a handful of European women have achieved. Athletics Illustrated
A 4x100m relay works like a baton-relayed footrace: four runners each cover 100 metres, handing over a baton within a 20-metre changeover zone. Get the handover wrong and a team can be disqualified; get it right and the baton flows at near full speed. Great Britain's exchanges in the heats looked clean, and the women's time of 42.33 put daylight between them and the rest of the field.
What makes Saturday compelling is the depth of the British squad. Hunt has already proven she can handle the pressure of a home crowd in Birmingham's Alexander Stadium. Hughes, a European 200m champion in his own right, brings relay pedigree to the men's team. Both squads now face the question every finalist confronts: can they reproduce a clean heat performance when the stakes rise?
The championships have drawn packed crowds to Birmingham all week, and the relay finals — traditionally among the loudest, most dramatic events of any major meeting — will close the session. For British fans, there is the rare prospect of watching both a women's and a men's team chase gold on the same night, in the same stadium, with the fastest woman in Europe anchoring the story.
