Keely Hodgkinson kept her bid for a third successive European 800m title on track, winning her semi-final in 1:57.38 at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium. Fellow Briton Jemma Reekie also advanced to the final, ensuring two British competitors in the showpiece.
Dramatic semi-finals
The opening semi-final saw Swiss star Audrey Werro, who holds the world lead and is Hodgkinson's main rival for gold, take a tumble on the final bend. Werro picked herself up to stumble over the finish line, and a successful appeal saw the 22-year-old reinstated for the final, despite appearing to clip her own leg.
Lithuania's Gabija Galvydyte, also caught up in the incident, was reinstated as well.
Hodgkinson's reaction
Hodgkinson was pleased to avoid the chaos in her race and told the BBC: "I heard the 'oooh', which is never a good sign, I don't know what it looked like. You can't worry about what happened to other people, but I hope she's ok."
She held off the challenge of Dutch ace Femke Broeders-Bol, who has won 400m hurdles gold at the last two European Championships. "Another 1:57, so I'm happy," Hodgkinson added. "The excitement makes me excited. I love a good challenge, and I hope for a clean race with no falling over and no wind. I'm going to talk to an Esty witch to make sure there's no wind."
Reekie's strong finish
Reekie produced a strong finish to win her action-packed semi in 1:58.61. "It just shows anything can happen in championship racing and I'm just glad I switched on enough to move around it," she said. "I heard somebody go down but I didn't know who it was, I was just focused on getting to the finish line. That was a carefree Jemma. I didn't panic, I'm really proud as that was really tough and there were some fallers in there. Having had a fall, I know how much that can throw you, so I just tried to stay calm."
Werro said: "I was feeling really great until the last moment but unfortunately something happened and I was on the ground one second after."
