Athletics: Tullett and Murphy lift Britain to third

Britain's women claimed a surprising third place in the European Indoor Cup in Germany thanks to team captain Hayley Tullett. The Commonwealth 1500 metres silver medallist stood in for Paula Radcliffe to claim victory over the distance.

There was also a magnificent 400m run from Wales's Catherine Murphy. She came home first in 52.63sec ahead of last year's European indoor gold medallist, Natalya Anty-ukh of Russia, in their race but was second overall to Germany's Grit Breuer. The event, over the four-lane Leipzig track, was run over two races.

Jamie Baulch also won his 400m race in 46.99sec, but like his compatriot Murphy, the Welshman was not able to secure maximum points.

There was a 60m victory for Jason Gardener, but the 27-year-old's display was the one real highlight for the men's team, who had a day they would rather forget. The four-time winners of the outdoor version of the competition finished second last as Spain won a thrilling battle ahead of Germany, with France coming third.

Tullett's victory came after she was involved in a barging match over the last four laps with runner-up Yulia Kosen-kova. But Tullett summoned the necessary speed to blow away the Russian's challenge by almost half a second with a time of 4min 8.63sec.

The men had been expected to fare better than the women's team. But below-par performances from some athletes, notably Commonwealth 1500m gold medallist Michael East, who was only fourth, and Ben Challenger, who was last in the high jump, proved to be their undoing.