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Dozens of athletes, including Britain’s Amy Hunt, and thousands of spectators were caught up in a massive security operation involving armed police at the European Athletics Championships on Saturday night.

Buses were not allowed to leave the Alexander Stadium for well over an hour as police conducted searches, and athletes, officials and fans were kept in the dark as to what was going on.

Athletes, many of whom are competing again on Sunday evening, started queueing for official buses at 10.15pm but did not arrive back at their team hotels in the city centre until 12.45am. “Fortunately they kept the kitchens open for the athletes,” one team official said.

The West Midlands police said a man in his 30s was “arrested on suspicion of fraud” and remains in custody for questioning. The first indication that anything was wrong came during Saturday night’s action when stadium announcers said that the six medal ceremonies would be postponed.

After the capacity 23,000 crowd had witnessed both British 4x100m relay teams claim gold, thousands of fans were then unable to get on buses to leave the venue – which is about five miles from the centre of Birmingham – while athletes, coaches and officials were told to return to the high performance centre at the Alexander Stadium to stay warm.

Joanne Ray and her husband, Ian, told the Guardian that she had started queuing for the buses at 9.50pm but didn’t get on one until 11.15pm. “There were mothers with babies strapped in carriers, disabled people in electric wheelchairs,” she said. “They were absolutely frozen. And we were given no information.”

A statement on the Birmingham 2026 social media account, posted on X at 11.03pm on Saturday, said: “We apologise for the significant delays in leaving the Alexander Stadium venue this evening. Buses and coaches will start to arrive and departures will begin to gradually take place.”

A further statement later clarified that a man had been arrested. “Championship transport was suspended until the necessary security measures had been carried out whilst West Midlands Police arrested a man in his thirties on suspicion of fraud,” it said.

“The safety and wellbeing of our spectators, athletes, workforce and the wider Championships family will always be our first priority.

“We recognise that the delays presented challenges for those affected and would like to thank everyone for their patience, understanding and cooperation throughout the evening.”

Hunt is back in the stadium on Sunday evening, where she will aim for an unprecedented quadruple of gold medals at a single European Athletics Championships in the mixed 4x100m relays.

On Sunday morning, Finland’s Alisa Vainio won gold in the women’s marathon in a championship record 2hrs 22.26min, an impressive time particularly on such a hilly course, with Britain’s Abbie Donnelly taking bronze in 2:27.33.

Germany’s Amanal Petros won gold in the men’s event, setting a new championship record of 2:09:11 after a solo breakaway. He then jogged to the finish ahead of Italy’s Pietro Riva, who finished seven seconds back, with Israel’s Gashau Ayale just behind in third.