The Norwich Union Great Britain and Northern Ireland team took its medals tally to 14 amid the thunderstorms on the final day of the European Junior Championships in Hengelo, Netherlands, on Sunday 22 July.

Today’s medals were: gold by the Women’s 4x100m quad, silvers in the 800m finals by Emma Jackson and James Brewer plus the Men’s 4x100m and Women’s 4x400m squads, and bronze by Gianni Frankis in the 110m hurdles. In addition, GB&NI were promoted to the gold medals in the 4x400m when the jury of appeal agreed with a German protest that they had been obstructed by Poland at the second changeover. Poland, who had crossed the line narrowly in front of GB&NI, were disqualified.

Here is how the action unfolded and what the athletes said about it:

The youthful Women’s 4x100m squad won Norwich Union Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s third Gold medal of the championships. European Juniors 100m finalist Anike Shand-Whittingham (Blackheath Harriers and Bromley AC), World Youths 100m bronze medallist Ashlee Nelson (City of Stoke AC), new European Juniors 200m champion Hayley Jones (Wigan and District AC) and World Youths 100m champion Asha Philip (Newham and Essex Beagles) crossed the line clear in 44.52 seconds from Ukraine (44.77) and Poland (45.32).

Shand-Whittingham on the first leg said: “I was chasing down the Swedish girl in lane eight and I was  thinking, ‘Get that gold!’ Get that gold!’ I completely missed Ashlee’s hand first time, which was scary. But I got it second time.”

Nelson said after giving GB the lead down the back straight: “It was hard work in the wind.” And she explained how she copes with the pressure of expectation: “You control the excitement by knowing it’s not going to last forever. You have to take everything in your stride. After all, something might come along and stop you tomorrow, whether you want it to or not.”

Jones said after sealing her second gold medal in successive days: “When I got the baton we were already in front so I knew we just needed to get the change spot on and we would get a medal.”

Philip said after sealing her second gold medal in successive weeks: “It was a bit hard at the beginning. My marker tapes went missing twice. I told Katharine Merry about it and she shouted, ‘It’s blown away!’ I looked everywhere for some more and luckily someone in lane seven had a little bit which stayed where it should.  But it was quite stressful.”

The ultimate aim was to beat the UK Junior record of 44.31 set by a team including Merry – who is advising many athletes in this team – in 1993. “I’ve got two more years to get it,” smiled Asha.

Norwich Union GB&NI battled into second place over the line in the Men’s 4x400m final but were promoted to first in the corridors of power. For both GB and Germany immediately put in a formal protest against the conduct of Polish athletes. Jordan McGrath (Birchfield Harriers), who ran the final leg for GB, had to go for medical treatment for spike marks on his right thigh after the race. He and his Polish opponent were racing side by side towards the last bend, with McGrath on the inside. He said: “Just as he cut-in, I was spiked and virtually had to stop and then begin to chase him. It took the last 30 metres out of me.”

Despite this, McGrath brought GB home in 3:08.21, even though he appeared to be shepherded into lane three by the Polish athlete, who stopped the clock at 3:07.87.

The other three GB runners contributed as brilliantly and grittily as McGrath to a superb effort. Nigel Levine (Bedford and County AC) on the first leg put them into the lead, Robert Davis (Birchfield) maintained the advantage at five metres, Louis Persent (Colchester Harriers) extended the lead slightly and spoke for all of his team when he said: “That’s the best race I’ve ever done. It felt amazing.”

The athletes were back at the team hotel before the Jury of Appeal announced that Poland were disqualified and GB would be awarded the gold medals at tonight’s end-of-championships banquet for the athletes.

A totally unexpected silver medal came the way of Norwich Union GB&NI in the Women’s 4x400m final. Team Coach Rodger Harkins had told his colleagues last night that he proposed to gamble, was given their approval – and won this race’s equivalent of the jackpot behind the unbeatable Russian squad.

Meghan Beesley (Tamworth AC), who ran the opening leg, said: "I wanted a medal in the 400 hurdles but this makes up for it! The team spirit is great."

Hayley Jones, the English Schools inters 400m champion, said of being one of only two athletes to win a third medal of the championships: "I wasn’t told I was in this squad until this morning. I did the 4x100m and as soon as I came back had to go straight to the Call Room for this race. No time to warm down or anything. I’ve only run one 400 this season. It wasn’t very good. I’m not going to tell you my time!"

Joey Duck (Marshall Milton Keynes AC), another 200m star, was also surprised to get Harkins’ call at 10.30am today: "I did one 400 last year," she said. "But at the moment I feel as if I’m never doing another one!"

Perri Shakes-Drayton (Victoria Park Harriers and Tower Hamlets AC), who has been an inspirational captain all week, took over in fifth place with a seemingly impossible 30 metres to make up on the silver medal position. She said: "I still felt strong at 200 and started to kick. I saw the runner in third was acting tired and decided, ‘We want a medal at least!’ Then the runner in second looked behind and I thought ‘Hey, I’m not wasting energy like that. Come on!’ And she came on so strongly that GB clocked 3:37.29, five fabulous hundredths of a second ahead of bronze medallists Germany. Russia clocked 3:33.95 for gold.

Acknowledging that all four of his selections had been busy earlier in the championships, Coach Harkins said: "They were tired soldiers but they did the business. I’m really, really happy because it’s a gamble. Sometimes you have to be intuitive to make a judgement call. You get to know the athletes and understand them. Meghan was hungry for a medal. Hayley was outstanding even though she was tired. Joey was superb. And Perri was simply magnificent."

The Men’s 4x100m final yielded silver medals for the Norwich Union GB&NI quartet of Funmi Sobodu (Blackheath Harriers and Bromley AC), new European Junior 200m champion Alex Nelson (Sale Harriers Manchester), 200m bronze medallist Luke Fagan (Enfield and Haringey) and Europe’s fastest 100m junior this summer Leevan Yearwood (Victoria Park Harriers and Tower Hamlets AC). And they were presented by … Katharine Merry.

In a vast improvement on two years ago when the GB baton did not get round the first round heat, Yearwood almost chased-down Germany, who nevertheless hung on to win by two-hundredths of a second in 39.81.

Sobodu said of the opening leg: “It went all right. The changeover could have been faster but I am new to it so I kept it safe. We went for gold but this is my first time at the Europeans so I am happy to get a medal. I’ve got the Worlds next year and another European as a Junior.”

Nelson said after charging powerfully down the back straight: “Relay is as important to me as the individual event. To miss silver by three-hundredths of a second at last year’s World Juniors in Beijing and to miss gold here by two-hundredths is a bit disappointing. It didn’t appear we did  anything really wrong so maybe we just got beaten by a better team at the end of the day.”

Fagan said after running the third leg: “I’m not really pleased (with second). I couldn’t see anything tat was wrong with it. Maybe I should have handed the baton a little quicker. That might have been the reason why we didn’t win. But other than that all the changes went smoothly and well. They might just have been better on the day.”

Yearwood said after straining every sinew to catch Germany on the last leg: “I tried my hardest. I looked across the track at one stage and they (Germany) were quite a bit in front. I wasn’t expecting that! But everyone of us did their hardest: Our hearts were in it. We just didn’t get it on the day. I’ve got to be happy with a medal after what happened in the 100. I shall come back stronger from that experience.”