Glave: From 2022 in a back brace to European champion - 'Delayed but not denied'

"2026 was my year of redemption," Romell Glave exclusively tells Sky Sports two days on from when he stood on the podium draped with a 100m gold medal at the European Championships.

The 26-year-old's story and journey to the point of becoming European champion in athletics' marquee event is a remarkable one. "Delayed but not denied," Glave says, with a twinkle in his eye.

Born in Manchester, Jamaica, Glave moved to the UK at the age of 15, joined Croydon Harriers, and by the age of 17 was the fastest 100m sprinter on the planet for his age group, clocking a time of 10.21.

Injuries hit regularly and harshly over the intervening years. So much so that he spent the majority of 2022 in a back brace having fractured vertebrae - issues first occurring when he was forced to train on grass due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

His back injury meant he was only able to make his European Championship debut for Britain in 2024, aged 24.

At that competition, Glave qualified for the 100m final and claimed the bronze medal in a tight race, but though a quest for more followed, he then fractured and inflamed his back for a second time, forcing him to miss out on the Olympic Games in Paris.

In 2026, he returned with a vengeance to succeed. He won gold in the 60m at a World Indoor Athletics meet in Stockholm - defeating Olympic silver medallist Kishane Thompson. He broke the 10-second barrier legally for the first time when he ran 9.98 to win the British title in June, and lowered his personal best again to 9.97 in London the following month.

All his work then culminated in European Championship 100m gold in Birmingham on Tuesday.