Perri Shakes-Drayton went a small way to making up for her London 2012 Olympic heartbreak with a double gold medal haul at the European Indoor Championships.
The 24-year-old from East London won individual gold in the 400m and anchored the 4x400m relay team in a new championship record time.
“With every disappointment I think you get stronger and that’s the case with me,” said Shakes-Drayton (right).
Her two gold medals helped Great Britain finish second overall in the standings with a team haul of eight medals — four gold, three silver and one bronze.
It was the first major championships for UK Athletics head coach Peter Eriksson since taking over from Charles van Commenee after London 2012.
“I think this was a great eight medals. There were a lot of season’s bests and personal bests for the team,” said Eriksson.
“All of the women made finals and it was only a few guys who didn’t reach their finals so I think it was a big success for us. It’s a championship so we need people to be in finals to get medals. When you get to this level you have got to step up.”
Holly Bleasdale secured Britain’s first gold medal of the weekend after a dramatic jump-off in the pole vault.
Britain had not won a gold medal in the relay for six years and, after the women’s success, the men’s 4x400m team secured the team’s second relay gold with a controversial win.
Eriksson added: “We selected a whole team to be potential finalists and that is important for us moving forward to get the medal count up.”
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