Katie Pye, Olivia Forrest and Kara Dacosta were Britain’s top performers as they claimed three more medals on day three of the European Under-18 Athletics Championships in Slovakia.

Pye (Mick Woods, Aldershot Farnham and District) won a hard-fought gold medal – and Britain’s first in Banska Bystrica – in the women’s 3000m, finishing in 9:20.25, just ahead of Germany’s Julia Ehrle and her compatriot Olivia Forrest (Paul Forrest, Brentwood Beagles) in a race that remained close until the very end.

The race started with Forrest setting the pace from the start and with two laps to go the medal contender group was soon reduced to a group of five: Norway’s Venus Abraham Teffera and Hungary’s Fanni Sazalai, alongside Pye, Forrest and Ehrle.

The German looked set to win with 600 metres to go. She opened up a 20-metre lead but fell back on the straight, creating an opportunity that Pye and Forrest seized with both hands.

The Britons were neck and neck as the race drew to a close and although Ehrle found a second wind to overtake Forrest, the German had to settle for silver, while Forrest took bronze.

“I wanted this medal, but it was so hard,” Pye said. “My legs were so sore, but I kept sprinting to the finish and made it just in time. It was a close race. What I learned today is that you have to keep believing until the last 100 meters. It all came down to the straight.”

Dacosta (Stephen Ball, Trafford) further confirmed her qualities with a fantastic race: she won silver in the women’s 400 metres and set a personal best of 52.60 seconds.

The Trafford star’s time makes her the third fastest British woman ever in the U18 discipline, behind only Linsey MacDonald (51.16) and Catherine Reid (52.25)

The men’s 1500m duo of Alex Lennon (Nick Hancock, Sutton & District) and Evan Grime (Ian Grime, Salford Harriers) contested the men’s final during the morning session on day three and finished fifth and seventh.

Gold went to Czech Republic’s Filip Toul with a time of 3:54.77, while the British duo finished in 3:58.33 and 3:59.10 respectively.

Louis Tutcher (Matt Spicer, Yate) was seventh in the men’s hammer throw (5kg) final, with a best effort of 68.56m. He opened with a mark of 67.75m in the first round, before throwing 68.56m, but looked frustrated as he botched the next four attempts, which left him with a top eight finish. Ireland’s Thomas Williams secured gold with a best effort of 73.95m.

There was more interest from Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the women’s 2000 metres steeplechase final, with duo Ava James (David Leach, Lewes) and Rae Le Fay (Peter Baker, Hastings AC) finishing seventh and 14th respectively with times of 6:44.37 and 7:16.28.

Eleven British athletes have progressed to the next round in their discipline, in what promises to be an exciting finale on the fourth day of the European Under-18 Athletics Championships on Sunday.

In the morning session Nell Desir (Lisa Waddon, Cardiff Archers), Elsie Brindle (Winchester), Ava John (Yasmine Regis, Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow) and Shiloh Omotosho (Sarah Robinson, Basildon) progressed to the final of the women’s medley relay.

The quartet finished first, taking a huge 2:10.20 lead over the U20 World Championships, confirming their status as the top contenders for tomorrow night’s final.

Meanwhile, 100m medallists Joel Masters (Joel Humphries-Cuff, BFT Track Academy) and Joel Ajayi (Gary Howard, Havering) were joined by Toby Wright (Steve Shaw, Taunton) and Harry Bradley (Darryn McAtee, Newport Harriers) who picked up where the women left off by securing their own place in tomorrow’s men’s medley relay final with a season best time of 1:54.12.

In the evening session, Shaikira King (John Skevington, Wreake & Soar Valley) booked her ticket to the women’s 800m final by running a time of 2:07.13 in her semi-final, placing second and automatically securing qualification for the medal race.

Meanwhile, dynamic duo Tom Waterworth (Derek Darnell, Huntingtonshire) and Matthew McKenna (Martin Norman, Walton) won their respective heats in the men’s 800 metres semi-final.

Waterworth looked a dominant figure as he won the semi-final two in 1:52.73 from Łukasz Zaczyk (POL). Moments later, McKenna won a faster semi-final in 1:51.46.

Results