Shakes-Drayton wins gold for GB

Perri Shakes-Drayton stormed to gold in the 400 metres ahead of her fellow Brit Eilidh Child at the European Indoor Championships on Sunday.

Britain on Sunday won four more medals at the European Indoor Championships.

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.

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

Britain also made up half the field in the men's event, but had to settle for a silver from Nigel Levine which could be the subject of a protest from the Russian bronze medallist Pavel Trenikhin, with Mukhtar Mohammed added a bronze in the 800m.

Defending champion Jenny Meadows was fourth in the women's 800m, while world indoor champion Yamile Aldama, 40, was sixth in the triple jump final and Lauren Howarth also sixth in the 3,000m final - which featured a rare false start.

Shakes-Drayton, who should claim a second gold in the 4x400m relay later today with Olympic silver medallist Christine Ohuruogu to complete the team, said: "I'm really happy with that.

"Everyone had expectations of me getting gold and in my heart of hearts I wanted gold. To be able to deliver and run a world lead, I didn't expect that. It gives me confidence and hopefully I can transfer it over the hurdles.

"I still want to achieve over the 400m hurdles and I haven't fulfilled my potential so to me I'm still a 400m hurdler and I think that gave me an advantage today, because I'm used to running over 10 hurdles in a 400m so I'm a lot stronger."

Shakes-Drayton missed out on the Olympic final by just one place last year and admitted: "It kind of made me think I am going to show people what I am about, I am not giving up. With every disappointment I think you get stronger and that's the case with me.

"I was knocked down after things had been going my way and I think you need a setback to come back stronger. I proved that today."

Child added: "I'm over the moon. Once I saw Perri ahead of me, I just thought 'sit on her shoulder and try and work with her the whole way round'. I'm delighted that I got a medal.

"It was a PB and I can't ask for any more than that, especially after back-to-back races, so I'm delighted.

"It just shows from the pair of us that the flat speed is there so it's just a case of getting the hurdling right and we'll both drop some really good times this season."

In the men's race, Levine and Trenikhin tangled on the final bend and although Trenikhin managed to finish third, he was clearly unhappy about the situation and could lodge a protest.

Pavel Maslak of the Czech Republic was a clear winner, with Britain's Michael Bingham and Richard Strachan fifth and sixth respectively.

"It was tough, the Russian actually cut in front of me," Levine said. "I was on the inside and he cut in front of me and I had to trap my stride. I can't believe I came second to be honest.

"The Russian guy is not very happy but, hey, we are all fighting for the same thing. I didn't do an illegal move so I am safe."

Mohammed had been targeting gold in the 800m but failed to get to the front of the race as intended and had to settle for a hard-fought bronze.

The 22-year-old was 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.

"That was a tough race between me and the Belarussian guy, who gave me a hard time on the last lap and I lost the first two positions because of him," Mohammed said. "I had to fight to get a medal. I didn't want to mess it up.

"The cleverest guys win the big championships. This is still a learning experience for me."

In the women's final, Meadows led from the start as she had done in an impressive semi-final win yesterday, but 18 months out through injury inevitably took their toll on the final lap as three athletes swept past down the back straight, with Ukraine's Nataliya Lupu eventually taking gold ahead of Russia's Yelena Kotulskaya, with Marina Arzamasova of Belarus in third.

Meadows, who actually finished second in Paris two years ago but was upgraded to gold after Russian winner Yevgeniya Zinurova was given a backdated doping ban last summer, was fourth, with Ireland's Ciara Everard sixth.

Steve Lewis could only manage joint sixth place in a high-quality pole vault final.

The 26-year-old, fifth at the London Olympics, had a best clearance of 5.71m, but it was not enough to trouble a field that contained all three of the 2012 medallists.

He had to clear a personal best 5.81m to stay in the competition, but failed his three attempts.

Chris Tomlinson fared no better in the long jump, his best effort of 7.95m leaving him seventh.

Asha Philip, the former world youth champion whose career has since been plagued by horrendous injury problems, continued her comeback by finishing sixth in a very competitive 60m.

Philip was the first British woman ever to win a global 100m title aged 16 in 2007, but her career threatened to be over before it had begun when she suffered a terrible knee injury competing in a trampoline world championships later that year.

The 22-year-old equalled her personal best of 7.15 in a tight final on Sunday night, her time just 0.05 off winner Tezdzhan Naimova of Bulgaria.