European U23 Championships July 14 - 17th

It was the first day of the U23 Euros in Ostrava today. It was generally a good day for the British athletes involved, though it's really noticeable how small the team is and how many events don't have a British representative, especially in the throws.

Live results are available here: http://www.sportresult.com/sports/la/ajax/eaa2.asp?module=timetable_date&event_id=10011500000001&lang=en

Competitors today included Eilish McColgan, Meghan Beesley, Jack Green, Nathan Woodward, Niall Flannery, Luke Lennon-Ford, Nigel Levine, James Alaka, Andrew Robertson and Lynsey Sharp, who all either won their heats or progressed through to the next round.

Medal success for the GB team on Day 2 - James Alaka won the Gold in the men's 100m with 10.45, Andrew Robertson snatched Bronze with 10.52. Not exactly lightning quick but they were running into a 1.5 m/s headwind. Perhaps the standout British performance of the day was from Lynsey Sharp, who won Bronze in the women's 800m, with a PB of 2:00.65, she finished behind Russian Yelena Arzhakova who clocked 1:59.41. Sharp's PB before this season was 2:04 from two years ago so she's really stepped up to another level.

Mukhtar Mohammed also won Bronze in the men's 800m, behind favourite Adam Kszczot of Poland - one of the better performers at these champs having beaten his compatriot and Euro senior champ Marcin Lewandowski a few times this year. All three male 400m Hurdlers progressed to the final as expected with only Jack Green failing to win his semi. This means he's likely to have an outside lane while Flannery and Woodward will be in the middle. Emily Diamond finished 2nd in her 200m heat to qualify for the next round in 23.96. Alaka returned to action in the men's 200m, where he and Danny Talbot made it through the heats. Both were outside 21 secs so I'm sure there's more to come from them.

There were plenty of medals for the GB team yesterday, with Jack Green and Nigel Levine winning gold in the 400m Hurdles and flat respectively. Considering his improvement this season so far Green's win came as no great surprise but the manner of it was unusual as silver medallist Nathan Woodward led all the way until the last hurdle which he clattered heavily. Sensing an opportunity Green finished like a train to pip his team mate on the line. But for that slip up Woodward could've run mid-48s, Green's winning time was 49.17.

Nigel Levine held off a challenge from Irishman Brian Gregan to win gold in the flat 400m, he paced his race well in what ended up as a blanket finish, Luke Lennon-Ford was a close 3rd, Levine's time was 46.10. The outstanding performance in the field was from Sophie Hitchon who extended her UK Hammer record with a 69.59m effort. This particular event was of higher quality than many of the other field finals, Romania's Bianca Perie took gold with a championship record of 71.59, another heavy thrower who stood out for having a very quick arm.

James Alaka was denied a sprint double, having to settle for silver behind Greece's Likourgos-Stefanos Tsakonas, but he should be content with a good championship series, including a PB of 20.59 in the semis. The Greek won the final with 20.56, pre-event favourite Danny Talbot ran 20.71 from an outside lane to miss out on bronze. A gentle-paced 5000m finished with a last lap burn-up, Ross Millington surged from mid-pack to take the lead with 50m to go, but he couldn't hold off an impressive kick from Norway's Sindre Buraas, who just took gold on the line. Meghan Beesley put in a particularly encouraging performance to win bronze in the women's 400m Hurdles, she clocked 55.69 - a new PB which moves her to 2nd in the UK rankings. This throws down the gauntlet to Eilidh Child who'll have her work cut out to claim a GB vest if Tasha Danvers-Smith returns to action soon. Following up on his Commonwealth bronze, Lawrence Clarke picked up another yesterday behind Russia's Sergey Shubenkov, Clarke ran 13.62 in the final.

Today Lawrence Okoye, James Shane, Stacey Smith and the men's 4 x 400m have good medal prospects. It's been a good championships so far, but I have to agree with other comments on the 'net about our small team and lack of field eventers, in many the standard has been poor and UK athletes would've qualified for finals with season's bests. While it is true we get a lot of opportunities in champs - being one of the few to send teams to the Euros and the Commonwealths (along with Cyprus), it's pretty clear some of the field event athletes don't compete internationally enough. The way Mervyn Luckwell and James Campbell have frozen in the Javelin when wearing the GB vest says a lot. This is a classic opportunity for athletes to gain experience and be a springboard to a more composed performance at a major champs later on.