Medal favourite Andy Turner confidently went into the next round of the European Championships 110 metres hurdles in Barcelona on Thursday morning.
The bronze medallist, at the last Championships in Gothenburg four years ago, posted the second fastest qualifying time of the heats behind Daniel Kiss of 13.48 seconds - 0.04sec slower than the Hungarian achieved.
"It was a comfortable run, not full out, just winning the race and being as relaxed as I could be," said Turner.
Turner, who has been in consistent form all summer, had a scary moment at the beginning of his race when thinking he might have been disqualified for a false start but Stanislav Olijar of Latvia was revealed as the perpetrator.
“I was a little fearful when I saw that little red thing next to my name on the board. I’d reacted off Olijar, he’d false started and then I went, but it’s been known to disqualify two people," said Turner.
"I had to maintain my composure and just do what I had to do.
“The person who’s in the final and wins the gold is the one who makes the least mistakes on the day and that’s what it’s all about tomorrow.”
William Sharman, fourth in last summer's World Championships after striking the second hurdle, fought back and progressed as one of the fastest losers.
Sharman said: “It was alright really, I’m glad I’m through and that’s all that matters really. I hit the second hurdle and that affected my acceleration so just tried to hang on to what I had left after that,” he reflected.
“It depends how you hit hurdles, sometimes you can hit a hurdle and be out of the race, but I’m through and that is all that matters.”
Former world junior champion Christian Malcolm, now fully fit after a few years of injuries, won his heat very comfortably in a time of 20.63.
Malcolm said: “It was comfortable you know, not easy, but comfortable, a really nice run. I’m just glad to be competitive again at a high level and I’m looking forward to the next round.
“I’m enjoying it and I’m in good form. I’ve always loved my career, coming to major championships is what it’s all about, it’s not about the Grand Prix, it’s about the big championships."
Jeffrey Lawal-Balogun, facing the newly crowned 100m champion Christophe Lemaitre, finished third in 20.93 as the Frenchman coasted to an easy victory also got through.
“My aim is to get to the final," said Lawal-Balogun. "I feel like I did my best considering I had lane two, so I told myself to just do my best.
“It was all a blur, I just kept thinking final, final, final so I just ran my race."
Marlon Devonish justified his late selection when winning his heat in a season’s best time of 20.68.