European Athletics Championships 2026: Spain finish with eight medals in Birmingham

Spain secured a seventh-place finish in the medal table at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham with eight medals after adding two bronzes on the final day of competition on Sunday.

The women's marathon team claimed the first of the two medals, finishing third behind Great Britain and Italy. Carolina Robles led the Spanish team with eighth place individually in her second marathon and first international race over the distance, recording a time of 2:28:07.

Fatima Azzahraa Ouhaddou finished 15th and Ester Navarrete was 18th to complete Spain's scoring. Robles, who is from Seville and specialises in the 3,000m steeplechase, moved up to the marathon after the Paris Olympics and had prepared for Birmingham in her home city.

The 29-year-old remained with the leading group for much of the race but began to struggle after the 35km mark. She eventually finished 34 seconds outside the individual bronze medal position.

"In the last change of pace I was already finished and the goal was to hang on to finish in the top eight," Robles said.

Her eighth-place finish ensured Spain secured the team bronze in a race won by Finland’s Alisa Vainio in 2:22:26.

The men’s marathon team narrowly missed out on the podium, finishing fourth. Jorge González was Spain’s leading runner in 14th place in 2:11:10, followed by Carlos Mayo and Ilias Fifa.

Spain then secured their eighth and final medal in the evening when the mixed 4x100m relay team took bronze behind Great Britain and Germany.

Guillem Crespi made a clean first change to Maribel Pérez, who handed over to Andoni Calbano. Calbano then delivered the baton to Jael Bestué with Spain in contention for a medal.

Bestué, a finalist in the individual 200m, held third place through the final straight to complete a successful relay performance after both the men’s and women’s 4x100m teams had been eliminated earlier in the championships.

Spain also came close to a ninth medal in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase, where Dani Arce finished fourth, one second behind the podium. Arce challenged Germany’s Ruppert throughout the race but dropped to fourth during the final lap.

Overall, Spain's eight-medal haul included two golds, two silvers and four bronzes.

In addition to the women’s marathon team and the mixed 4x100m relay, earlier in the week María Pérez and Paul McGrath won gold in the women’s and men’s half-marathon race walks, while Miguel Ángel López and Marta García took silver in the men’s marathon race walk and women’s 5,000m, respectively.

Spain also collected bronzes through Raquel González in the women’s marathon race walk and Mohamed Attaoui in the men’s 800m.