Holly Archer disqualified after finishing second in 1500 metres final

Archer celebrated what she thought was a silver medal only to have it taken away.

Holly Archer thought she had won a third medal for Great Britain at the European Indoor Championships after finishing second in the 1500 metres – only to be disqualified.

Archer looked delighted as she paraded round the arena in Torun, Poland with the British flag after finishing strongly in a scrappy race won by Belgium’s Elise Vanderelst.

There were several episodes of pushing and shoving and, after a review of the footage, it was determined the Cambridge athlete was at fault.

Holly Archer, left, thought she had won silver in the women's 1500m final but was later disqualified — Holly Archer, left, thought she had won silver in the women’s 1500m final but was later disqualified (Darko Vojinovic/AP)

Britain will have three women in the final of the 800m after the young trio of Keely Hodgkinson, Isabelle Boffey and Ellie Baker all finished in the top two in their respective semi-finals.

Baker said: “I’m so happy. It just shows how dominant our GB middle distance girls are. I’m so proud of them as well as myself. I can’t wait for us to put on a show for everyone tomorrow.”

Keely Hodgkinson led a British trio into the finals of the women's 800 metres — Keely Hodgkinson led a British trio into the finals of the women’s 800 metres (Czarek Sokolowski/AP)

Andrew Robertson was the sole British qualifier for the final of the men’s 60m later on Saturday.

Having qualified with a season’s best of 6.60secs, Robertson improved again by winning his semi-final in 6.59s. Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Oliver Bromby missed out, though.

Scotsman Andy Butchart looked impressive in qualifying for the final of the 3,000m, winning his heat, while Jack Rowe also made it through.

Butchart set the fastest time, and said on britishathletics.org.uk: “It felt good. It went exactly how I wanted it to go. The floor felt pretty smooth and my legs should be pretty fresh for tomorrow.

“The main thing is to be as fresh as I can for the final and hopefully I can come back tomorrow and get the win.”

Andrew Pozzi carries strong British hopes of a medal as the reigning world indoor champion in the 60m hurdles and is looking to regain the title he won in 2017.

He stormed through the first of five heats in 7.52s, the joint-fastest time of the morning, and said afterwards: “It was a really good time. I had a great reaction from the blocks, which I’ve been missing from the indoor season, so that was really encouraging.”

In the women’s event, there were good runs from sisters Cindy Sember and Tiffany Porter, who safely qualified for the semi-finals. Sember’s time of 7.99s was her fastest since 2017 while Porter clocked 8.04s.