Mark English of Ireland runs 1:43.49 in the European 800m semi-finals to beat Olaf Beyer's longstanding CBP, while Brits Max Burgin and Ben Pattison also qualify for Thursday's final in Birmingham.

Forty-eight years. That's how long Olaf Beyer's championship record had stood in the men's 800m before Mark English broke it on a warm Wednesday morning at the Alexander Stadium.

The Irishman, 33 and hitting the best form of his career, won the second semi-final in 1:43.49 to erase a mark that had survived since one of the most famous 800m races ever run. Beyer's 1:43.84 in Prague in 1978 is the stuff of athletics legend – the unfancied East German who came from nowhere to beat Steve Ovett and Seb Coe, the two great British rivals everyone had gone to Czechoslovakia to watch. Ovett took silver that day in 1:44.09, with Coe, who had set a fierce sub-50-second pace on the first lap, having to settle for bronze in 1:44.76 – and neither of them, nor anyone else, has run inside that time at a European Championships ... until now.

English being English, he wasn't about to get carried away with any of that history. Asked what was behind such a run, he kept it understated: "I've put in a lot of work and I just want to show people that."

It's been a career of near-misses and bronze medals for the Letterkenny man until this point – two European bronzes, in Zurich in 2014 and Munich in 2022, but this year he's been a different athlete. A Diamond League win in China, a runner-up finish in Rome, another in London where he ran his lifetime best of 1:42.97.

Ben Pattison made sure it wasn't a one-man show for the home nations in English's semi either, taking second in 1:43.72 to make Thursday's final. France's Corentin le Clézio was the other name of note, a personal best of 1:43.80 seeing him through in third.

Pattison said: "Today was the day to get it right and I managed to do that, my legs felt really good in that race and I’m looking forward to the final."

And then there was Max Burgin, who arrived in Birmingham as the European No.1 on paper this year but has spent the summer trying to find his feet again after a minor early season injury and then a virus wrecked his Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. You wouldn't necessarily have known it watching him win his semi in 1:44.73, sitting and kicking in the final 200m rather than front-running as usual.

"My preference is always to control a heat, but after my poor preparation I thought I'd run in a different way," he told AW. "I've not been too confident in my overall fitness. The only thing I've done successfully is speed and change of pace work, so I thought I'd try to rely on that a little more and see if that would get me through."

There was a moment of drama, too, when he got tangled up with a rival in the closing stages. Burgin, characteristically, decided to see the upside. "I got clipped from behind but I think it helped, as it gave me a bit of a spurt and helped my momentum," he said. "It was good to test that kind of kick, as it can come down to that in a championship."

There was a lightness to him afterwards that suggested this might be a man finding his form at exactly the right moment. "I'm feeling a lot better as I get into the championships," he said. "The heat isn't a problem either – it felt quite good out there, like running on the continent, to be honest. Not much wind either, so I'd say it was perfect conditions."

And on watching English rewrite the record books from trackside: "I was glad I wasn't in that heat. It was impressive to watch and it'll be a very stacked final tomorrow."

Stacked is right. English, Burgin and Pattison all through, two nations both fancying their chances, and a British and Irish crowd who will make plenty of noise inside Alexander Stadium on Thursday night. Beyer's record has gone. Now it's just about who takes the gold.

Elsewhere at Alexander Stadium

There was no fairytale for Britain's Zara Obamakinwa in the women's discus, her 55.17m leaving her 20th in qualifying. Sweden's Vanessa Kamga topped the group with 64.65m, while the pick of the storylines belonged to France's Melina Robert-Michon, 47 years old and still good enough to make a European final, doing so with 60.89m. The Netherlands got two through in Jorinde van Klinken and Alida van Daalen, both fresh off Monday's shot put final.

Obamakinwa said: "This season has had been ups and downs, I tried my best today, and unfortunately it wasn’t my day, but it’s coming. There are lessons, I know what went wrong, I couldn’t rotate my left foot, and I'm not sure why, I’ve got to go figure that out. We’re trying, I gave it a good go, this is my first ever individual experience and it’s been really fun."

The men's 400m hurdles produced two national records inside the same session and one giant of the event doing exactly what was needed and no more. Sweden's Oskar Edlund set the early pace with 47.81 in heat one, but it was Karsten Warholm, the Olympic and world champion, who provided the psychological blow, cruising to victory in heat three in 48.01 without ever looking troubled.

Slovenia's Matic Ian Gucek chased him home with a national record of his own, 48.03, while Turkey's Ismail Nezir squeezed through as a fastest loser with a personal best of 48.16. It was a tougher morning for the British contingent: Josh Faulds, who had been the fastest qualifier through the opening round, could not repeat the trick this time and was eliminated in 49.26, with Jake Minshull and British champion Alastair Chalmers also missing out on the final.