However, her back was still painful, more so when she ran shorter distances, so she decided to go for the 800 metres at the 1969 European Athletics Championships in Athens that September. Still inexperienced at the longer event and ranked only 8th in Europe on her performances that season, she was not strongly fancied for 800 m gold. She won her heat comfortably (2:04.2) and then, two days later, produced a superb performance in the final on 18 September sprinting away from her rivals on the final bend and winning by eight metres in a personal best time of 2:01.4, a new championship record. She was the first British woman to win this European title, the second being Lynsey Sharp in 2012.