Keely Hodgkinson cruises to 800m gold at European Championships

Keely Hodgkinson has cruised to the biggest victory of her career as she claimed gold in the women's 800m at the European Championship.

The 20-year-old British runner has earned excellent silver medals at the Olympic Games, World Championships and Commonwealth Games over the past 12 months.

However, aside from the European Indoors, Hodgkinson had not finished at the top of the podium until her dominant win in Munich on Saturday evening.

Hodgkinson positioned herself in the middle of the pack for a large portion of the race, comfortable with running on the outside of some of her main rivals.

Once she made her move with just over 200 metres out, there was only ever going to be one winner with British compatriot Jemma Reekie attempting to go with her teammate.

While Reekie eventually faded in the final 50 metres to finish in fifth position, Hodgkinson effortlessly maintained her lead to collect gold in 1:59.04.

France's Renelle Lamote came home in second place to claim the silver medal 1:59.49, with Poland's Anna Wielgosz taking bronze in 1:59.87.

Alexandra Bell - the third British runner in the race - finished behind Reekie in sixth place.