GB's Turner and Sharman reach European hurdles semis

European Athletics Championships 2010, Venue: Barcelona Dates: 27 July - 1 August

Great Britain's Andy Turner and Will Sharman both qualified for the semi-finals of the men's 110m hurdles at the European Athletics Championships.

Turner, ranked third in Europe in 2010, won his heat in 13.48 seconds after European champion Stanislav Olijar had been disqualified for a false start. Sharman, who beat Turner in the trials, finished third in his heat in 13.60.

Christian Malcolm, Marlon Devonish and Jeffrey Lawal-Balogun all qualified for the semi-finals of the 200m. Veteran duo Malcolm and Devonish won their heats in 20.63 and 20.68 respectively, while Lawal-Balogun was third in his heat in 20.93.

Malcolm lost his lottery funding last year along with Mark Lewis-Francis, and admitted the latter's shock silver medal in the 100m last night was a "great inspiration". "Me and Mark have been good friends," he said. "We struggled together this year and it's good for him to get what he deserved through hard work and hopefully I will get mine."

Christophe Lemaitre, who won the 100m title on Wednesday, was the third fastest qualifier overall with a time of 20.64, while Portugal's defending champion Francis Obikwelu withdrew from the event because of a leg injury.

Turner feared that he could have also been disqualified for a false start when Olijar prematurely leapt out of his blocks. "I felt a little bit scared when I saw the red marker next to my name," said the 29-year-old from Nottingham. "I'd reacted off Olijar, he'd false started and then I went, but it's been known for them to disqualify two people."But luckily I maintained my composure and just did what I had to do. It was a comfortable run, not flat out."

Sharman was glad to get through after an unconvincing display.
"I hit the second hurdle and that affected my acceleration but I managed to hang on to what I had," he said. Later on Thursday July 29, world champion Phillips Idowu (1840 BST) will be looking to add to Britain's medal tally at the championships when he goes in the men's triple jump final.

Posted by CBN Staff on 30 Jul 2010 [06:04] | Comments 0 |

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