Relay squad take medal total to 19

Great Britain completed their most successful European Championships in terms of medals won with silver in the final event, the men's 4x400metres relay on Sunday night.

Conrad Williams, Michael Bingham, Robert Tobin and Martyn Rooney just failed to catch Russia on the line but added to the bronze medals won by the women's team and Chris Tomlinson in the long jump.

That took the medal tally to 19, eclipsing the previous best of 18 achieved in Split in 1990, although that did include nine golds compared to six in Barcelona.

Bingham found himself down in seventh place when the stagger unwound after the first leg and improved to fifth by the time he handed the baton to Tobin.

Rooney took over in third place, despite having to barge into the incoming Russian athlete, and although he was able to overtake Belgium's Jonathan Borlee, Russia's Vladimir Krasnov held on for the gold.

Russia had also won the women's race in commanding fashion, with Britain's Nicola Sanders, 800m specialist Marilyn Okoro and Lee McConnell combining to hand the baton to Perri Shakes-Drayton in third place for the final leg, and the 400m hurdles bronze medallist almost caught Germany for silver down the home straight.

In a somewhat underwhelming final evening for the team, Tomlinson was denied silver by just one centimetre in the final round of the long jump.

Tomlinson's jump of 8.23m in the fourth round looked good enough to secure second place behind Germany's Christian Reif (8.47m), before France's Kafetien Gomis followed four straight fouls with a leap of 8.24m on his last attempt.

The 28-year-old from Middlesbrough had one last chance to reclaim silver but could only manage 7.57m with his final attempt.

Lisa Dobriskey had been unable to add to the medal haul, finishing fourth in the final of the 1,500m.