STEPH Twell of Aldershot, Farnham & District became the first British runner to take a medal in the women’s 5000 metres at the European Championships.

Twell claimed the bronze when finishing third behind Turkey’s Yasemin Can (a former Kenyan) and Meraf Bahta (a former Eritrean), running for Sweden, in Amsterdam.

Can’s injection of pace, after a slow opening kilometre, gave her an advantage of six seconds at two kilometres, which she had extended to ten as she entered the last kilometre.

The battle between Twell, who clocked 15mins 20.70secs, and Bahta, the defending champion, reduced the winning margin to less than three seconds.

The host nation’s Susan Kuijken, bronze medallist two years ago, finished fourth another three seconds back, and Twell’s GB team-mates Laura Whittle and Eilish McColgan finished fifth and sixth respectively.

A superb bronze medal offered further evidence that Twell, 26, is back to her best after suffering a badly broken ankle in 2011.

“It feels unreal,” she said after the race. “It was so nerve-wracking going around. I kept thinking, ‘will it be silver, will it be bronze? Will I catch Can?’ I kept pushing and that’s the experience coming out.

“You can doubt yourself. I’ve been through those doubts. I can cope with that. It now shows my inner strength is coming out. I’m super happy.”

At Gateshead on the same day, Luke Van Oudtshoorn, another AFD athlete, won the English Schools junior 1500 metres title. A personal best of 4mins 08.47secs brought him home more than half a second ahead of Bridgnorth runner Oliver Carvell, the England Athletics under-15 800 metres champion indoors, who has a personal best of 4-06.80.