Scotland – Laura Muir wrote her way into history – yet again – while final day victories for Marcin Lewandowski in the 1500m and in the women’s 4x400m relay in the final event of the programme saw Poland top the medal table again at the Glasgow 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
Two days after winning the 3000m, Muir had the crowd rocking once more as she won the 1500m on her home track to make it a double-double after successfully defending both her titles from Belgrade two years ago. No athlete has ever achieved that before in these two events.
Lewandowski also refused to let go of his 1500m crown as he beat Norway’s sensation Jakob Ingebrigtsen and then Justyna Swiety-Ersetic ran a brilliant final leg to triumph in the relay.
Along with Pawel Wojciechowski in the pole vault, Michal Haratyk in the shot put and Ewa Swoboda in the 60m, Poland ended the championships with five gold medals and seven in total to lead the way from Great Britain – with four golds and 12 in total – and Spain, with six – three of which were gold from the third day.
The way Muir dominates her races on the indoor stage is remarkable and this 1500m was arguably her best yet on such a stage.
She led from virtually the first stride of this final, no-one passed her before powering away with 350 metres left. Her final 400 metres was run in a remarkable 57.58, with the crowd all standing to salute her on her last lap as she triumphed in 4:05.92.
It was a staggering three-and-a-half seconds quicker than Poland’s Sofia Ennaoui, who was second in 4:09.30 after finishing third in Belgrade, with Ireland‘s Ciara Mageean third in 4:09.43.
And from one Scottish star to another for Great Britain, Eilidh Doyle did all she could on a rousing last lap of the women’s 4x400m relay but she could not catch Swiety-Ersetic who saved a bit extra for the final 50 metres to retain the title for Poland.
Led off by Anna Kielbasinska, onto Iga Baumgart-Witan and then Malgorzata Holub-Kowalik, they were ahead at every changeover before Swiety-Ersetic ensured the win in 3:28.77 from Great Britain in 3:29.55 and Italy, anchored by Marta Milani, third in 3:31.90.
The men’s relay had been a thriller too, with Belgium’s Kevin Borlee breaking down the lead of of Spain’s Bernat Erta to triumph.
Once more it was a family affair for the brothers Borlee as Dylan and Jonathan ran the second and third legs respectively after Julien Watrin took on the first, with Kevin bringing them in home in 3:06.27 from Spain, in a national record of 3:06.32, and France, anchored by Fabrisio Saidy, third in 3:07.71.
Lewandowski holds off Ingebrigtsen to retain 1500m title
Lewandowski did more than just produce a glorious defence of his European indoor 1500m crown. He proved that Jakob Ingebrigtsen is actually human after all.
In a captivating final, 18-year-old Ingebrigtsen was looking to create even more history having become the youngest ever male European indoor champion, on the back of his European outdoor 1500m and 5000m titles last summer.
In that 1500m in Berlin, Lewandowski won silver but this time his determination was even greater as he stayed in closer contention to Ingebrigtsen before taking him on around the final lap.
What an indoor star Lewandowski is, with this gold being his third in a row at these championships. He won the 800m in Prague in 2015 before his glory in Belgrade in 2017.
Germany’s Marius Probst and France’s Simon Denissel took the eight man field around for the early laps and with four to go, Spain’s Jesus Gomez made his mark to take over as Ingebrigtsen followed with Lewandowski easing into third.
The pace was hotting up and then when the Polish star took over at the front from Ingebrigtsen, the tone was set for a dramatic finale.
Could Ingebrigtsen make up the narrow gap? The answer was quickly no as Lewandowski stretched away and as they hit the home turn, there was only one winner. Lewandowski crossed the line in 3:42.85 from Ingebrigtsen in 3:43.23 and Gomez in 3:44.39.
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