Tom Waterworth came within a hairbreadth of winning the 800m gold medal at the European Athletics Under 20 Championships in Tampere, Finland at the weekend. After winning his heat in 1:47.93, the fastest heat time in the 55-year history at these championships, Tom knew that he would have to contend with two other Britons in the final who had also won their heats. William Rabjohns was the fastest Under 20 800m runner in Europe while Tom had lost twice this year to Rafferty Mirfin. The final started at a relatively slow pace before Tom took up the running after 200m. He held the lead until the back straight on the last lap when he was overtaken by Mirfin. Meanwhile, Rabjohns, who found himself boxed in behind Tom, pushed through a gap on the inside which wasn’t there. Rabjohns bumped Tom out of the way and went into second place, causing a knock-on effect which saw a Spanish runner being tripped and crashing to the track. With 100m to go, the three Brits seemed sure of a clean sweep. Rabjohns went past Mirfin with 50m to go and crossed the line in first place. Mirfin claimed the silver medal with Tom taking bronze. However, the Spanish team immediately put in a protest which was upheld with Rabjohns being disqualified. Tom was elevated to the silver medal position, just 0.11 seconds behind Mirfin (1:48.09 to 1:48.20). They both have another year to go in the Under 20 age group.