Amy Hunt is halfway to completing a historic quadruple at the European Athletics Championships.
The 24-year-old has so far swept the 100m and 200m in Birmingham and said it would be “iconic” to became the first athlete to win four European golds at the same Championships.
Hunt still has the relay events to come: on Saturday, she will run in the women’s 4x100m before it’s the turn of the inaugural mixed 4x100m to close the Championships on Sunday.
She has said there will be “no celebrations and no champagne” until Sunday night and Great Britain will be able to field strong teams in both events.
“Two out of four, baby!” Hunt said after winning the 200m on Thursday. “This is becoming a magical week and one I will remember for the rest of my life.”
First up, Hunt will be attempting to emulate her team-mate, and silver medallist in the 200m, Dina Asher-Smith if she wins a sprint treble.
Asher-Smith achieved the feat in 2018 at the European Championships in Berlin, winning 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay gold at the age of just 22.
Asher-Smith became the first British woman to achieve a sprint treble at a major championships, and that before the mixed 4x100m relay was part of the schedule.
The success helped Asher-Smith’s ascent to stardom and she then went on to win a world title when she won a historic 200m gold at the 2019 World Championships in Doha.
Asher-Smith is now just one away from joining Poland’s Irena Szewinska on a record 10 European medals, but these Championships have also signalled a changing of the guard.
Only the very best athletes of all time have won multiple medals at a single global event.
Usain Bolt won 100m, 200m and 4x100m trebles at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, as well as at three separate World Championships in 2009, 2013 and 2015.
Allyson Felix won trebles in the 200m, 4x100m and 4×400 at London 2012, and at the 2007 World Championships.
Elaine Thompson-Herah swept the 100m and 200m sprints at the 2020 Olympics and won gold in the 4x100m, while Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce also has a world treble to her name.
With the 4x100m mixed relay coming the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, after the success of the mixed 4x400m in Paris, future sprint stars will have the opportunity to win a quadruple.
The legendary Carl Lewis and Jesse Owens are the only two people have won four gold medals in athletics at a single Olympics, and that was because they added the long jump.
