Dutch women claim six medals at European Athletics Championships

High jumper Britt Weerman finished fourth in her first international championship. Photo: ANP/Robin van Lonkhuijsen

Dutch athletes narrowly failed to add to their tally of six medals on the final day of the European Championships in Munich as they finished fifth in the overall medal table.

Nadine Visser missed out on bronze in the 100m hurdles by 0.01 seconds, repeating her fourth place from Berlin four years ago, in a race won by Poland’s Pia Skrzyszowska.

‘It still hasn’t totally sunk in,’ the 27-year-old said after the race. ‘I’ve waited years for another European championships and then it comes along just as I’m not in form. It’s super frustrating.’

Also just missing out on a medal was 19-year-old high jumper Britt Veerman, who cleared the same height of 1.93 as her fellow teenager, Angelina Topic of Serbia, but was placed fourth because she had more fouls.

The men’s sprint relay team had an unexpected chance of a medal after the strongly fancied German team dropped the baton, but were overtaken by Poland in the final strides and had to settle for fourth place in 38.25 seconds. The women’s team finished fifth.

All the Dutch medals were won by women. Femke Bol finished as the individual star of the games, winning the 400m and 400m hurdles titles and anchoring the 4x400m relay team to victory on Saturday.

On the opening day of the championships Jessica Schilder and Jorinde van Klinken took gold and bronze respectively in the shot put, while Nienke Brinkman claimed a bronze in the marathon.

Across the 11-day multi-sport championships in Munich and Rome, which also included events in rowing, cycling, gymnastics and beach vollyball, the Netherlands finished seventh, with nine gold medals, seven silvers and 12 bronzes.