Yeo makes maiden European final on Day 1 of Birmingham 2026
by 10th August 2026
Archie Yeo delivered a stunning final jump to qualify for his maiden European Athletics Championships long jump final on the morning session of Day 1 at Birmingham 2026. Yeo (Thames Valley Harriers, Matt Barton) was sitting outside of the top 12 ahead of his third and final jump at the Alexander Stadium but produced a jump of 7.92m to progress.
Elsewhere, Max Burgin (Halifax Harriers, Ian Burgin) and Lina Nielsen (Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers, Jack Green) won their heats in the men’s 800m and women’s 400m hurdles, respectively, to progress to the semi-finals.
Long jumper Yeo will contest the men’s final on Tuesday evening after finishing 11th overall in qualification.
“It’s fantastic, it’s brilliant,” he said. “I love Birmingham, it’s normally for British Champs, but that was even better and hopefully for that final, I'll send it out a little more.”
Stephen Mackenzie (Edinburgh AC) did not progress as his best jump of 7.85m saw him finish in 15th.
Burgin put a virus that disrupted his Commonwealth Games experience behind him to win his men’s 800m heat and qualify eighth fastest overall in a time of 1.45.80. He said: “It went well. I was happy with how I ran it. I'm happy with my kick finish, it is always good to know I've still got one. I don’t often see it. It was a good run out. I'm looking forward to the semis.”
Ben Pattison (Basingstoke & Mid Hants, Dave Ragan) made it through as the fastest non-automatic qualifier, finishing fourth in his heat but progressing with the fifth-fastest time overall in 1:45.40. Alex Botterill (City of York AC, Steve Cram), making his senior international debut, did not progress after finishing sixth in his heat in a time of 1:46.90.
Lina Nielsen comfortably won her women’s 400m hurdles heat to progress as the second-fastest qualifier in a time of 55.08. “It felt really good, it felt really chill,” she said. “The plan was to conserve as much energy as you can, whilst setting yourself up for the semis. It was a fine balance.”
Imani-Lara Lansiquot (Marco Ariale) was the second fastest qualifier in the women’s 100m heats, delivering a wind-assisted time of 10.99 seconds. She joins Dina Asher-Smith (Blackheath & Bromley, Michael J Ford), Amy Hunt (Marco Ariale), and Daryll Neita (Cambridge Harriers, Lance Braumann) in the women’s 100m semi-finals at 8:10pm this evening.
Scott Lincoln (City of York AC, Dale Stevenson) made it safely through to tonight’s men’s shot put final with a best throw of 19.96m. That saw him finish fifth, and he will return to the Alexander Stadium at 8:33pm this evening. “It was a scrappy series of throws, so to get through to the final off a bad throw I am grateful. This morning was all about getting through to the finals.”
Jake Norris (Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow AC, Nick Ridgeon) secured his place in Tuesday’s men’s hammer throw final, finishing ninth in qualification as he saved his best till last. His final throw of 75.67m made the difference as he improved on his first-round effort of 73.72m.
Serena Vincent (City of Portsmouth AC, Mike Winch) was the first athlete from the Novuna Great Britain & Northern Ireland Team to compete in front of a home crowd in the women’s shot put qualification. Vincent’s best throw of 16.65m, which came with her first attempt, saw her finish 17th, five places and 0.97cm off qualification for the final.