GB’s Walcott-Nolan wins 1500m bronze at European Indoors

Great Britain’s Revee Walcott-Nolan won 1500m bronze at the European Athletics Indoor Championships as gold-medal favourite Georgia Hunter Bell missed out on the podium.

Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Hunter Bell, the fastest European across the distance so far this year, led at the bell but could not maintain her push for a first major international title and faded in the closing stages.

The two British athletes crossed the line together in four minutes 08.45 seconds, but it was Walcott-Nolan who was awarded her first international medal by one thousandth of a second.

France’s Agathe Guillemot finished strongest to take gold in 4:07.23, ahead of Portugal’s Salome Afonso (4:07.66) in Friday night’s final in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.

In the men’s final, Britain’s Neil Gourley missed out on the podium in fourth as Jakob Ingebrigtsen claimed his sixth European indoor title.

The Norwegian Olympic 5,000m champion took charge over the second half of the race to claim gold in 3:36.56, ahead of Frenchman Azeddine Habz, who took bronze behind Gourley in 2023.

Gourley ran 3:38.29 but lost touch with the front three, which also included Portugal’s bronze medallist Isaac Nader, on the final lap.

The win means Ingebrigtsen, still only 24 years old, has the chance to equal the men’s record for the most European indoor titles by claiming his seventh gold in the 3,000m, the heats for which take place on Saturday.

It is just 12 months since Hunter Bell announced herself on the international stage with a fourth-place finish at the World Indoor Championships, in the early stages of a breakthrough season which would exceed all expectations.

No longer able to act the role of underdog after her medal-winning performance at Paris 2024, Hunter Bell entered 2025 as a full-time athlete after leaving her job in cyber security to build towards a tilt at Olympic glory in Los Angeles.

As the fastest European this year – and quickest in the final line-up by more than three seconds – Hunter Bell was the strong favourite for gold, but she admitted this was an important lesson as she learns how to deal with increased expectations.

Hunter Bell’s coach Jenny Meadows explained her build-up was disrupted by illness, and she will now focus on achieving a first global title at the World Indoor Championships in two weeks’ time.

“My legs just really hit me in the last few metres. I felt it really good going in, it just goes to show it’s a really underrated skill to consistently win at a championship, as the likes of Laura Muir and Keely Hodgkinson do,” Hunter Bell told BBC Sport.

“I’m still learning. Last year, coming fourth at the world indoors fuelled me to Olympic bronze. Once I’m done being sad about this, hopefully I can take something from it.”

Instead, it proved a significant moment for team-mate Walcott-Nolan as she achieved a breakthrough podium, having celebrated her 30th birthday by reaching the final on Thursday.

“This one meant a lot today,” Walcott-Nolan said. “It has been a bit of a rocky road to get here, I’m really happy I was able to perform and pull out my first medal.”

Reacting to the final on BBC Two, Olympic 800m champion Hodgkinson, who is recovering from a hamstring tear, said of training partner Hunter Bell: “She will be absolutely fine. She will learn from it, she has the attitude of a champion.

“Luckily she has another opportunity at the World Championships and I’m sure this will spur her on.”

Watching alongside her, coach Meadows said: “[Hunter Bell] had a bit of a flu, a bad dose over Christmas. She managed to do a bit of training over the last few weeks. We didn’t think it would affect her that much but maybe that’s what we saw towards the end.

“Take nothing away from Revee. She has underplayed it, that was massive for her and I am absolutely delighted for her.”

Ingebrigtsen will now turn his attention to sealing his third consecutive 1500m and 3,000m double at these championships, which would take him level with Valeriy Borzov’s men’s record of seven European indoor titles.

The Norwegian improved his world indoor 1500m record (3:29.63) while breaking the world indoor mile record (3:45.14) last month and, while his rivals knew what was coming as he eventually made his move, they were powerless to deny him.

The 3,000m heats take place on Saturday, with Britain’s George Mills hoping to end the Norwegian’s six-year reign in that event when the final takes place on Sunday.

Earlier on Friday, British gold medal hope Amber Anning was left devastated after being disqualified for a lane infringement, having won her women’s 400m heat in an impressive 51.03 seconds.

Olympic finalist Anning, 24, entered the championships as the second-fastest European over 400m this year but departed the arena in tears.

Team-mate Ama Pipi progressed to the semi-finals as a non-automatic qualifier, but the 29-year-old did not make the final after finishing fifth in 52.29secs in the evening session.

Morgan Lake will contest the women’s high jump final on Sunday after clearing 1.89m at the first attempt, as did Ukraine’s gold-medal favourite and world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh.

Justin Davies qualified for the men’s 800m semi-finals in a time of 1:46.56, but team-mate Thomas Randolph fell short in a scrappy heat in which he was shoved by Swiss qualifier Ramon Wipfli.