Friday 3 March 2017 22:17, UK
Great Britain's Andrew Pozzi has claimed gold in the 60m hurdles at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade.
The 24-year-old won in 7.51 seconds to clinch the first major medal of his career, having suffered several injury-blighted campaigns.
Pozzi, the world leader this year, breezed through his heat before beating second-placed Pascal Martinot-Lagarde and bronze medallist Petr Svoboda in the final at the Kombank Arena in Serbia.
Pozzi missed the whole of the outdoor season in 2014 with a foot injury, having previously had foot surgery and battled a hamstring problem since 2012.
The Loughborough-based athlete revealed he thought success might never come, because of his fitness worries.
"It's everything, it's just been so long," he said.
"My first senior team was 2012, so it's five years now.
"I haven't really moved on from that, because I haven't been able to put the work in. This was the first time I was coming in having done all the work.
"At the toughest times and darkest days I always believed I had what it took to be a medaliist at major championships, but there were loads of times when I didn't know if it would actually happen.
"I always thought it could, so I never gave up. But for sure I doubted it more times than I thought it would come.
"Before I even took my first stride I saw everyone get out ahead, and my heart stopped and then kicked into overdrive.
"I hit a few hurdles but, coming off hurdle two, there was no way I was losing that race."
Earlier, there was an impressive performance from Olympic heptathlon champion Nafissatou Thiam, who added the European indoor pentathlon title in dominant fashion.
The Belgian got a personal-best 4,870 points, topping the standings in the high jump, shot put and 60-metre hurdles, as she beat Austria's Ivona Dadic (4,767) and Hungarian Gyorgyi Zsivoczky-Farkas (4,723).
