Three more gold medals on penultimate day in Jerusalem mean that GB is the No.1 nation going into the final day

After winning three gold medals on Tuesday at the European Under-18 Championships in Jerusalem, there was more success for the British squad on Wednesday (July 6) as a further three gold medals were won from Faith Akinbileje in the 200m, Charlotte Henrich in the 400m and Annie Mann in the 1500m.

This follows the golds won by Cleo Agyepong in the shot, Mia McIntosh in the 100m hurdles and Nia Wedderburn-Goodison in the 100m on Tuesday.

It means all the victories in the championships so far have come from British female athletes.

Henrich, who is aged just 15, ran the first 400m of her life on June 13 this year with 55.39 at an open meeting organised by her club Invicta East Kent. In Jerusalem she was competing in only the third 400m of her life – after previously running 300m races last year – and came from sixth to first in the home straight to claim a dramatic victory in 53.54.

“I can’t believe it, it’s insane!” she said. “I didn’t panic after the first 200m and I believed in my race plan and put everything into the home straight. It wasn’t until I saw the result on the big screen that I knew I had won.”

Her team-mate Etty Sisson finished just outside the medals in fourth with a 54.06 PB.

Akinbileje of Blackheath & Bromley won the 200m by a huge margin as she clocked 23.36 (2.5) to finish ahead of Holly Okuku of Germany’s 24.03 with Lara Jurcic of Croatia third with 24.22.

Akinbileje is coached by John Blackie, the same man who guides world champion Dina Asher-Smith.

Like Henrich, Mann arrived in Jerusalem without a huge amount of experience but produced a similarly inspirational final sprint to take 1500m gold in 4:23.41. The Southampton youngster said: “I watched everyone else win medals yesterday and I wanted to experience that too.”

There were further British medals in the 3000m and 1500m races. In the women’s 3000m Sofia Thøgersen of Denmark claimed a 12-second clear victory in 9:20.56 but Bailey took silver in 9:32.74.

In the men’s 1500m, meanwhile, Niels Laros of the Netherlands took another gold to add to the 3000m title he won earlier in the championships as Britain’s Tendai Nyabadza took bronze.

The long-legged Laros sprinted away from his rivals on the last lap to clock a championship best of 3:49.99.

READ MORE: British gold rush on Tuesday

Topi Parviainen continued Finland’s fine tradition in the javelin by winning gold by a huge margin as he threw 84.52m – a European all-time best for an under-18 athlete with the 700g spear.

If you recognise his surname, too, it is because his uncle is former world champion Aki Parviainen, whereas his father, Mika, won a World University Games medal almost 30 years ago.