Great Britain and Northern Ireland took second place in the overall medal standings as the multi-sport European Championships concluded in Berlin and Scotland on Sunday night.

An athletics gold in the concluding men’s 4x100m raised the tally to 74 – 26 gold, 26 silver and 22 bronze. Russia, propelled by a gargantuan trove from the pool but still non grata in track and field, lifted the new trophy for top spot with eight medals fewer but a superior collection of 31 titles.

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It is a useful if not fully illuminating barometer of where some of the country’s key Olympic sports sit at the midway point between Rio and Tokyo.

Britain’s cyclists won two medals more than at the 2016 European championships despite unexpected under-performance from the sprinters and the alternative attraction this year of a world championships on which UK Sport’s targets were assessed.

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Swimming, with Adam Peaty setting the lead, was also two ahead of its 2016 showing in London. Tollcross offered the sport’s annual health check and it passed multiple tests, with the emergence of the 17‑year‑old Freya Anderson perhaps the greatest boon looking further ahead. Steps forward were taken by Dina Asher-Smith, Matt Hudson-Smith and Laura Muir on the Berlin track, Lois Toulson and Grace Reid on the diving board, and Joe Fraser in gymnastics.

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It seems certain that the European Championships experiment, with a few tweaks, will be rolled out again in 2022 and in a largely similar format. “Our model is sustainable so we will keep looking to use existing facilities,” Paul Bristow, the championships director, said. “We will likely keep with the model of using multiple cities for the next edition of the event.”

On the BBC alone, 2.9 million people watched Zharnel Hughes win 100m gold. Svein Arne Hansen, the European Athletics president, said: “This was a great event. It worked very well.”