Shakes-Drayton wins gold

Mar 3 2013

Britain doubled their medal tally at the European Indoor Championships in one race, with Perri Shakes-Drayton storming to gold in the 400 metres ahead of team-mate Eilidh Child.

Shakes-Drayton led from the front and powered to victory in 50.85 seconds, a second personal best in two days and the fastest time in the world this year.

The 24-year-old finished more than half a second ahead of fellow hurdles specialist Child, who still lowered her own Scottish record to 51.45secs in claiming silver.

Shana Cox briefly threatened to make it a clean sweep for Britain when she occupied third place after the first lap, but she faded in the closing stages and finished sixth as Sweden's Moa Hjelmer delighted the home crowd by taking bronze.

However, a gold in the 4x400m relay later on Sunday looks certain with Olympic silver medallist Christine Ohuruogu to complete the team, adding to the gold and silver won on Saturday by Holly Bleasdale in the pole vault and James Dasaolu in the 60m respectively.

Mukhtar Mohammed had been targeting another gold in the 800m but got his tactics all wrong and had to settle for a hard-fought bronze.

Mohammed failed to get to the front as he had intended following an impressive run in the semi-finals, almost running off the track as he attempted to squeeze through on the inside on the third lap.

The 22-year-old was also twice barged into by Anis Ananenka of Belarus, the second time as the pair battled to get across the line, with Mohammed just edging ahead by 0.01s. Poland's Adam Kszczot won gold ahead of Spain's Kevin Lopez.