Max Burgin eased any lingering fears over his form with victory in his 800m heat on the opening morning of the European Athletics Championships, while Ben Pattison, Imani Lansiquot and Archie Yeo were among the Brits who progressed at the Alexander Stadium.

Max Burgin arrives in Birmingham as the European No.1 this year on the back of his 1:42.98 clocking in Rabat, but he went into the championships under a cloud after an underpar performance at the recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where he could only manage 1:45.61 in the semi-final. It later emerged that a virus was to blame.

He looked back to something like his best on Monday (Aug 10) sitting back in the early stages but making a move at 200m and surging clear to win in 1:45.80 and book his place in the semi-finals.

"I certainly felt better than last week," Burgin told AW. "I found out I had a virus and have been wiped out for the last week and not done much at all. It was on the day of the race and the days following.

"I've mainly been resting up and have done some tester sessions, not all of which went particularly well. I did some strides yesterday in spikes and it's the first time I've felt more like myself.

"I set off conservatively today and used more traditional tactics today. I felt good as well so hopefully I'm fully recovered now."

 

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There was more good news for Britain in the same event as Ben Pattison advanced as one of the fastest losers, clocking 1:45.40 for fifth in heat two. Alex Botterill was not so fortunate, though, missing out on a semi-final spot after running 1:46.90 in heat three for sixth place.

"Not good enough," said Botterill. "I just felt a bit flat in the home straight when it really mattered most this season."

Pattison said: "I tried to make a big move on the back straight, and legs weren't really there, and then I kind of got caught up."

France's Yanis Meziane set the pace in the heats, winning heat two in 1:45.10 from Spain's Mohamed Attaoui (1:45.26), with Sweden's Andreas Kramer also catching the eye with a season's best of 1:46.05 to progress from heat four. Ireland's Mark English, the pre-championships favourite, made hard work of his heat but came through as the winner in 1:46.96.

In the women's 100m, where the leading seeds had byes into the next round, Imani Lansiquot underlined her credentials with a comfortable 10.99 for second in heat one behind Hungary's Boglárka Takács, who led all qualifiers with 10.93 into a strong tailwind of 3.2m/sec.

In the women's 400m hurdles Lina Nielsen was the second fastest of all qualifiers with 55.08 to win her heat. Britain's interest in the men's 400m heats was more limited, with Hungary's Patrik Simon Enyingi setting the early pace courtesy of a season's best of 44.87. British champion Matt Hudson-Smith was among those given a bye.

In the men's long jump qualifying, Archie Yeo made it through as one of the fastest, leaping a season's best-equalling 7.92m to progress on the day, while fellow Briton Stephen Mackenzie's 7.85m was not enough to advance.

Italy's Francesco Inzoli led the way with 8.34m, just ahead of Serbia's Luka Boškovic (8.33m), with world and Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece safely through in third with 8.26m.

The other story of the qualifying round was concern over Mattia Furlani. The Italian, world champion and second on the European rankings this year, could only manage 7.73m and was seen holding his hamstring during the competition, leaving his participation in the final in doubt.

Serena Vincent's championships got off to a disappointing start as she finished 17th in the women's shot put qualifying with 16.65m, adrift of the automatic qualifying mark. The British thrower was all smiles, though, saying she enjoyed the experience and was frustrated to have a 17-metre no-throw during the competition. It was also good to compete in these championships as she was controversially overlooked for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Germany's Yemisi Mabry, the Olympic champion, topped qualifying with 19.25m, edging out the Netherlands' Jessica Schilder (19.00m) and Portugal's Auriol Dongmo (18.76m).

Multiple British champion Scott Lincoln, meanwhile, qualified for the shot put men's final with ease with 19.96m in the second round of qualifying, whereas Jake Norris's 75.67m in the hammer was good enough to make the final of his event, too.