World Athletics Championships: Ben Pattison claims 800m bronze, Great Britain take third in 4x100m relay final

Great Britain's Ben Pattison won the bronze medal in the World Athletics Championships men's 800m on Saturday night in Budapest, Hungary. Earlier in the evening, both the men's and women's 4x400 relay teams for Britain reached the finals by qualifying from the heat stages, with the US team disqualified from the women's race after failing to hand over the baton correctly.

Ben Pattison won bronze in the World Athletics Championship men’s 800m, the British women were third in the 4x100m, and there was success in both 4x400m heats.

Pattison was on the front early in the race, and second after what was a relatively slow opening lap.

Emmanuel Wanyonyi moved up towards him, before Canada’s Marco Arop stretched his legs to pull away to claim gold.

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Kenya’s Wanyonyi was able to secure silver, and with four runners scrabbling for fourth, it left Pattison waiting on the screen for confirmation that he took the final podium place.

"I don't know why you're interviewing me... I can't think of anything to say!" Pattison said.

"I feel like I'm going to wake up in a minute. All day, I've had people telling me I'm going to medal. Halfway through the day, I started to believe it.

"My mate Tommy wrote a song for me - 'Ben Pattison's coming home with a medal round his neck'. He was right!"

Pattison takes bronze behind Arop in 800m at World Athletics Championships

Video credit: TNT Sports

Great Britain won their heat in their Women’s 4x400m relay earlier on Saturday.

Going into the heat to decide some of the line-up in Sunday’s final, the USA team were the favourites to make it through, and to finish first in the heat.

The USA have won seven of the last eight gold medals on offer at the Worlds but will now have to wait until the next event to attempt to make it eight medals after being disqualified for an illegal change.

The British side were in second place behind the US line-up, with those two teams clear of the chasing pack, with the current bronze medallists then able to take the lead.

However, there was a controversy as Alexis Holmes took the baton too late in an exchange, and despite coming second they were disqualified.

Laviai Nielsen, Amber Anning, Nicole Yeargin and Yemi Mary John will now hope to land a gold medal for Great Britain in Sunday’s finale.

Speaking to the BBC after their success, Nielsen said: "I've actually never run the first leg of a championships before so I was feeling a little bit nervous this morning. I have such faith in this team. We are so strong."

Lewis Davey, Rio Mitcham, Alex Haydock-Wilson and Martyn Rooney were in fourth at the halfway point for Great Britain in their men’s 4x400m relay heat, and needed a top-three finish to ensure automatic qualification.

Haydock-Wilson went head-to-head with Botswana and pipped his rival to claim third, with India in second and USA winning the heat.

Mitcham said: "We really mean business. We really want to get the job done. Just focus on this, focus on getting through to the final and that's what we've done so I'm happy."

Haydock-Wilson added: "I resolved within myself in that cool-room to trust these guys and they really did make my job easy for me. I can trust that they would give their all and if I'm trusting them, then I can trust myself too.

In the women's 4x100m final, Britain landed bronze with their quartet of Asha Philip, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Bianca Williams and Daryll Neita.

‘It is amazing’ - GB women delighted with bronze medal in 4x100m relay at World Championships

Video credit: TNT Sports

The US side took gold, with Jamaica second. In the men's 4x100m final, the British side were fourth, with the US team triumphant - meaning Noah Lyles completed a clean sweep of the sprint medals.

Sweden's Armand Duplantis won the gold medal in the pole vault, and with gold assured, he attempted to land a new world record of 6.23m, but despite having three runs at the attempt, he failed in his effort.

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Stream the World Athletics Championships live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com.

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