Here are the headlines from Day One of the European Championships.
Kelly Sotherton and Jessica Ennis lie in second and third place behind Carolina Kluft in the heptathlon after Ennis set a new PB of 23.56sec in her 200m heat. Earlier in the day both Ennis and Sotherton had PBed in the shot.
France’s Eunice Barber – the former world Champion and Denise Lewis’ old rival - pulled out of the competition after the second event leaving Sotherton and Ennis with a slightly easier job.
Amanda Pritchard crashed to the track in the 800m but a successful appeal will mean she lines up in the next round. Through to the less round with less drama were Becky Lyne and Jemma Simpson. Lyne showed her growing stature to control her heat to win in 2min 01.87sec. Simpson finished third in her race in 2min 01.55sec.
Michael East has enjoyed a turbulent season. The Newham & Essex Beagles’ last minute decision to run at Crystal Palace led to a performance that got him added to the team after an injury ravaged season. But in his 1500m heat he clipped the athlete in front and fell before traillin in with 4min 11.89sec. Andy Baddeley progressed as a fastest loser after finishing seventh in the second heat in 3min 41.92sec. One place and just 0.05sec behind, and also qualifying, was Liam Reale or Ireland. Stephen Davies failed to advance after a 3min 48.64sec 10th place in the same heat as East. James Nolan went out after finishing 14th in the first semi-final in 3min 49.94sec.
Germaine Mason, Martyn Bernard and Adam Scarr all failed to progress to the high jump final.
Dwain Chambers and Mark Lewis-Francis both made it to the semi finals of the 100m but will need to improve through the rounds if they are to make an impression on the likes of Francis Obikwelu of Portugal and Ronald Pognon of France. Tyrone Edgar was knocked out in the second round. Chambers scraped through with fourth place (10.39sec) in a quarter final won by Poland’s Dariusz Kuc in 10.32sec. Lewis-Francis ran 10.33sec for second behind Ronald Pognon who ran 10.19sec.
Nick Nieland secured a place in the javelin final with his first throw of 80.40m.
Greg Rutherford jumped into the long jump final with his first effort of 8.07m. Nathan Morgan’s first jump was 7.94m and Chris Tomlinson jumped 7.95m in the second round so each of them also progressed.
In the women’s 10K Kathy Butler ran 32min 01.04sec for 12th and Mara Yamauchi one place back with 32min 07.90sec. Hayley Yelling clocked 32min 12.50sec for 15th. Ireland's Marie Davenport finished 22nd with 33min 05.48sec.
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