Swiss women's relay wins first-ever medal with silver at European Athletics Championships in Birmingham

Swiss women's relay wins first-ever medal

The Swiss women's 4x100m relay team of Géraldine Di Tizio-Frey, Fabienne Hoenke, Léonie Pointet and Salomé Kora won silver at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, the first medal for a Swiss relay squad at a major championship. Great Britain took gold in 42.05 seconds. The Swiss clocked 43.05 seconds (per SRF) or 43.12 seconds (per Blick), with Poland taking bronze just 3 hundredths behind and Italy finishing fourth, 9 hundredths back.

The relay project was launched more than 12 years ago ahead of the 2014 home European Championships in Zurich. Despite regularly recording world-class times and reaching finals at Olympics, World and European Championships, the team had twice finished fourth at the European Championships and had been denied medals by baton errors, injuries or hundredths-of-a-second decisions.

Near-disaster on the final exchange

The race nearly ended in another heartbreak. After a strong start by Di Tizio-Frey and two clean handovers, the Swiss appeared to be challenging Great Britain for gold. But the final baton exchange from Pointet to Kora went wrong. Kora, who had competed as a bobsled pusher at the Winter Olympics, nearly came to a complete stop to stay within the exchange zone.

"Probably I started too early and then did a full brake," Kora said. The 32-year-old from St. Gallen then launched a recovery sprint, securing silver ahead of Poland by 3 hundredths of a second.

The pressure that has weighed on us for years is now falling away. It is so beautiful that we won this medal.

In recent years it was always tears of sadness, now they are tears of joy. It is incredible. Salomé was suddenly far away, then I shouted 'stop'. At first I thought it would be nothing, but then I saw how fast she was and still became second.

Del Ponte steps aside

Hours before the final, Hoenke replaced Ajla Del Ponte, who had run in the morning heats. Coach Kim Beytrison said Del Ponte voluntarily offered her place based on Hoenke's performances. Hoenke had narrowly missed a 200m medal, finishing fourth.

We discussed it together and Ajla decided that Fabienne deserved this start. That was strong of Ajla and I am proud that we have such good communication in this team.

Del Ponte called herself a team player, saying it was hard but she was not sure she could give 100 percent and did not want to be a risk for the team.

Lobalu completes medal set

Dominic Lobalu won silver in the 10,000m in 27:42.67, completing his European Championship medal collection after gold over 10,000m and bronze over 5,000m at the 2024 Rome edition. The 27-year-old, born in South Sudan, had finished seventh in the 5,000m earlier in Birmingham.

Sweden's Andreas Almgren won gold, pulling away around 7km into the race and building a lead of nearly 20 seconds. He finished in 27:23.44 (per SRF and RTS) or 27:33.44 (per 20 Minuten), a new European Championship record. France's Jimmy Gressier took bronze. Jonas Raess, the second Swiss in the field, finished eighth in 28:22.41, a season best.

I am very happy about this new medal.

Javelin, triple jump and high jump golds

Julian Weber won javelin gold with his final throw of 90.40m, a new European Championship record, overtaking compatriot Nick Thumm (83.76m). Latvia's Patriks Gailums took bronze (82.97m).

In the triple jump, Italy's Andy Diaz Hernandez soared to 18.15m for gold, ahead of Pedro Pichardo (17.76m) and Andrea Dellavalle (17.37m).

Ukraine's Jaroslawa Mahutschich won her third consecutive high jump gold, clearing 1.97m. The men's 4x100m relay title went to Great Britain in 38.45 seconds.