Summary:
- Charlie Dobson took the silver medal in the men’s 400 metres at the European Athletics Championships.
- He clocked a personal best of 44.38 seconds.
- Molly Caudery’s bronze medal in the women’s pole vault brought Great Britain’s second podium win.
Great Britain did well on the fourth day of the European Athletics Championships held in Rome.
Charlie Dobson claimed the silver medal in the men’s 400 metres while scoring a new personal best.
He was left behind by Belgium’s Alexander Doom who took gold after breaking 1998’s men’s 400 metres European Athletics Championships record with 44.15 on the clock.
Doom also won the 2024 World Indoor Championships in the same race.
Dobson was joined by Molly Caudery who added a bronze medal in the women’s pole vault to Great Britain’s tally.
“I Gave It Everything Down the Back Straight”
Charlie Dobson managed to clock a personal best at 44.38 seconds after a dramatic 100 metres finish where he “gave (it) everything down the back straight”.
The silver medal winner who was striving to put pressure on Doom explained his legs “were turning to jelly in the last 20 metres” which made him scream at himself “to keep striding”.
“I got the job done and I am over the moon with it“, he added.
Dobson’s accomplishment also helped him reach a European top-10 time.
Caudery: “I’m a Little Bit Disappointed”
Caudery, who added her new bronze medal to her fresh world indoor gold, was left behind by Switzerland’s Angelica Moser and Katerina Stefanidi of Greece.
While she was off to a good start with a first-time clearance at 4.58m, she had to settle for third place after missing out at 4.83m.
Commenting on her win, Molly Caudery acknowledged that while a bronze medal was “still a great achievement”, she “would have liked to come away with a slightly higher height“.
“If I told myself a year ago I would be bronze medallist at the European Championships I would have been over the moon”, she added.
In other news, Rhasidat Adeleke broke the Irish record in the women’s 400 metres, which brought her a silver medal. Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland scooped up the gold medal.
Keely Hodgkinson defended her women’s 800 metres title by crossing the line first in 2:02.46, thus sealing her place in the semi-finals.
Daryll Neita advanced to the 200m women’s final as the fastest from the three semi-finals in a time of 22.51, marginally short of her best result of the season.
