By Owen Morgan
Swansea Harrier Joe Brier helped the Great Britain 4x400m relay squad to a silver medal at the European Under-23 Championships in Sweden on Sunday night.
Brier ran the third leg as GB came home in second place behind Germany, clocking a time of 3:04.59 which helped the team end the championships with a medal tally of 14.
The silver medal adds to the bronze won by Brier in the 4x400m final at last year’s World Junior Championships in Finland.
Brier: “It felt alright. Lee (Thompson) gave me a great leg to work off.
“I let the German go past, which I shouldn’t have done, but I worked off him in the home straight and it felt good.”
There was further Welsh interest in the women’s 4×100 relay final where Brier’s sister Hannah, was one of three Welsh runners in the quartet where she was joined by compatriots Melissa Roberts and Shannon Malone.
Having qualified in a time of 44.27, the GB four, which was completed by Alisha Rees, finished fifth in the final in a time of 44.54.
The previous evening there had been disappointment for the GB team’s fifth Welsh member, Jake Heyward.
The men’s 4x400m quartet of @alexhw_400, @leethompss_, @joebrier99 & @CamChalmers400 gave their reaction to fellow teammate @ellisgreatrex after their @EuroAthletics U23 Championship
Hear their thoughts below! pic.twitter.com/u2sNiQj1YE
— British Athletics (@BritAthletics) July 14, 2019
The Cardiff man was the fastest qualifier for Saturday’s 1500m final having won his heat on Thursday evening, despite having missed much of the outdoor season so far due to injury.
But the two-time age group 1500m European Champion wasn’t able to replicate his success in the final as he finished 11th in hot conditions, registering a time of 3:52.98.
A disappointed Heyward said afterwards: “It wasn’t a very good race for me. I got clipped a few times and it just really rocked my rhythm.
“Obviously, it’s not been the smoothest ride here. It was a disappointing run and just not good enough.
“But at the same time I’ve just got to put that out of the way now. It’s history and now it’s onto the next thing, get back into some good training and make amends for it.”
There was success for fellow James Thie-coached athlete Piers Copeland, who claimed a silver medal in the race.
England international Copeland, who is a student at Cardiff Met, finished behind Spain’s Ignacio Fontes in a time of 3:50.89.
Full list of Great Britain medallists at the Championships in Gavle:
Gold (3)
Shemar Boldizsar – Men’s 200m
Jemma Reekie – Women’s 800m
Jemma Reekie – Women’s 1500m
Silver (8)
Ellie Baker – Women’s 800m
Oliver Bromby – Men’s 100m
Cameron Chalmers – Men’s 400m
Piers Copeland – Men’s 1500m
Tom Gale – Men’s High Jump
Spencer Thomas – Men’s 800m
4x400m Relay – Men
4x400m Relay – Women
Bronze (3)
Cameron Fillery – Men’s 110m Hurdles
Emile Cairess – Men’s 10,000m
Callum Wilkinson – Men’s 20km Race Walk