Welsh track star Joe Brier has a medal in the bag from the World Athletics Championships in Hungary.

Brier earned a prized silver medal in Budapest, even though injury ruled him out of the mixed 4 x 400m relay final.

The Welsh star ran a superb opening leg in his heat even though he injured himself early in his run as Great Britain smashed the British record.

That ruled the Tokyo Olympian out of the final, but he still collected a medal as part of the squad that finished second behind the USA.

In a dramatic finish, Yemi Mary John capitalised on a fall from Femke Bol of the Netherlands in the last 10m to pinch silver in 3:11.06, taking 0.13s off the previous British record, set earlier on Saturday.

Lewis Davey had replaced the injured Brier and set the team up perfectly with a measured first leg, handing over to Laviai Nielsen who moved the British team into third at the halfway point.

Rio Mitcham finished brilliantly to cement the quartet’s place in third spot on leg three and Yemi Mary John stole in for Britain’s first global medal in the event.

After the race, Nielsen said: “A huge mention to Joe.

“He hurt himself in the first 100m of that heat earlier and carried on for 300m. He is a team player and he deserves this medal as much as we do.

“Our team coach Martyn Rooney has been incredible, and he said to me, I’m one of the more experienced members of this team so I had a responsibility to pep talk these guys.

“I know what it’s like to win a medal and how it can change your life. I told them that we are capable and strong enough so let’s go get it and we did.”

 

CYCLING

Stevie Williams won the Arctic Race of Norway even though he finished 10th on the final stage.

The Welsh rider – who competes for the Israel-Premier Tech team – was the overall leader after winning the third stage and managed to keep his winning margin on Sunday.

 

France’s Clément Champoussin, who was overall second behind Williams, won the stage, but Williams finished in the lead pack to clinch overall victory.

“I’m really happy to be the winner of this race, the guys rode amazingly all day, honestly,” Williams said.

“The way they held that break at two minutes and thirty seconds all day, with sixteen guys in front was incredible, and to finish it off today, and yesterday’s stage win, it couldn’t have gone better.

“It has been a great week for us.”

 

SHOOTING

Welsh shooter Ben Llewellin won a bronze medal at the Shooting World Championship in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Llewellin joined teammate Amber Rutter as the pair finished third in the mixed team skeet event.

The USA won gold, with Ukraine earning the silver.

Llewellin, from Haverfordwest, said: “We always grab the opportunity to shoot together, and we always make sure we enjoy it. Shooting in front of a crowd like that is great fun.”