GB’s Azu claims 60m gold as Robertson wins bronze

Great Britain’s Jeremiah Azu claimed men’s 60m gold at the European Athletics Indoor Championships to land his first individual international title, as team-mate Andrew Robertson won bronze.

Azu, 23, ran a personal best of 6.49 seconds to cross the line ahead of Sweden’s Henrik Larsson in 6.52, with Robertson third in 6.55 in Saturday night’s final.

Having qualified fastest from the morning heats, Azu made a further statement by setting a European-leading time and then personal best 6.52 secs in the semi-finals.

But he saved his best for the medal race, which took place just two and a half hours later, to clinch GB’s first gold in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I won it. I thought Henrik was five metres in front of me. When you’re in a line you can’t really tell what is going on. I was pushing every bit of me to the line”, Azu, who has returned his training to the UK, told BBC Sport.

“I know I’m in the right place and this confirmed to me that I’ve made the right decisions. This is just the start of the journey for us as a team. We are coming to take it all and I’m excited to be on this journey now”.

Azu becomes the ninth British man to win the title – and first since Richard Kilty won back-to-back titles in 2017.

The Welshman’s triumph and Robertson’s bronze follows bronze medals for 1500m runner Revee Walcott-Nolan and the mixed 4x400m relay quartet.

It is a first individual international medal for 34-year-old Robertson, who received a late call-up to the squad and finished fourth in 2021.

“This time last week I was having a cheesecake, I was having a great time with my family in Scarborough”, Robertson joked.

Azu had a taste of gold on the international stage as part of Britain’s team at the 2022 European Championships in Munich, where 100m bronze represented his first senior individual medal at that level.

But despite playing his part in Team GB’s 4x100m relay bronze at Paris 2024 last summer, Azu has since described the experience of his first Olympic Games as “bittersweet” after he was disqualified from the individual event for a false start.

He has since taken the significant decision to switch his training set-up after starting his family, leaving Marco Airale’s group in Italy to return home to Cardiff and reunite with former coach Helen James.

A two-time European under-23 100m champion, Azu will now target a first individual podium on the global stage at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China this month.

“Speechless. It has been a crazy couple of months. To top it off by becoming European champion, I’m so grateful to god”, Azu said.

“Life is such a flash and it is so great to have these moments. I am so grateful to be standing here and calling myself a European champion”.

British debutant John Otugade exited at the semi-final stage on Saturday, finishing fifth in his race in 6.67 secs.