Great Britain storms to inaugural mixed 4x100m gold as Hunt makes history and Asher-Smith breaks records in Birmingham
Great Britain won the inaugural mixed 4x100m relay at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, with a quartet of Jeremiah Azu, Dina Asher-Smith, Zharnel Hughes and Amy Hunt taking gold on the final day of competition, 16 August 2026. The event — two men and two women running 100m each — appeared on a European Championship programme for the first time ever at these championships European Athletics.
The victory carried two individual milestones. Amy Hunt became the first athlete to win four European gold medals at a single championship. Dina Asher-Smith, a former 200m world champion, secured a record eighth European career title BBC Sport. She is already Britain's most decorated athlete in the sport, and Hunt has spoken openly of aiming to build an individual medal tally to match hers European Athletics.
The relay golds did not stop there. On 15 August, Britain's men won the 4x100m relay in 38.45 seconds, and the women followed with 42.05 — the fastest time recorded in Europe that season Olympics.com; The Independent. Across the full championships, held at Alexander Stadium from 10 to 16 August, Britain collected 10 medals in total Olympics.com.
The mixed 4x100m relay arrived in Birmingham with no championship record to chase — it had never been run at a Europeans before European Athletics. Germany had staked an early claim to European supremacy in the event back in May, at the World Relays in Gaborone, where a team anchored by Sina Kammerschmitt ran 40.15 to set a European record European Athletics. That mark now stands as the target for the new European champions.
For Hunt, these championships were a homecoming. She grew up chasing the sport's biggest names and now, on the same track, she stands alongside them — four golds hanging from her neck, a first for any athlete at a single European Championships.
For Asher-Smith, the eighth title crowns a career that has spanned sprinting's highest peaks. A world champion over 200m, she has now accumulated more European golds than any British athlete before her, across a career that has weathered injuries, Olympic cycles and the relentless churn of young talent arriving beneath her.
What makes this stand out is the symmetry. The relay — a team event, built on trust and baton changes — delivered the moments that broke individual records. Hunt's four golds and Asher-Smith's eighth title both crossed the line in the hands of four runners, not one.
