Tired Matthew stays on track
Matthew Hudson-Smith admitted he was a "little bit tired," but has more to come after qualifying for this evening's 400m semi-finals in his first senior European Athletics Championships outing.
The 19-year-old from Lanesfield, in Wolverhampton, crossed the line in 46.07 seconds in the first round in Zurich yesterday, just ahead of Israeli sprinter Donald Sanford in 46.18 sec.
Hudson-Smith joins fellow Britons Martyn Rooney and Conrad Williams, who safely made it through their opening quarter-mile encounters.
The Birchfield Harrier is competing for individual honours and will also hope to add to his team gold from the Commonwealth Games in the 4x400m relay.
He said: "I just need to get home and rest easily. I am a little bit tired now. At these senior championships I am just basically learning at the age of 19 and so I do not feel any pressure."
All three British competitors continued their impressive Commonwealth Games momentum as they advanced in the women's 100m first-round.
Stoke's Ashleigh Nelson, who was the fourth-fastest qualifier overall, stormed to a new personal best performance of 11.19 sec to finish second in her heat with Desiree Henry and Asha Philip also going through.
Birchfield Harrier Julian Reid marginally missed out on the semi-finals of the men's triple jump with a leap of 16.52.
Other interest for the Perry Barr club comes in the form of Megan Beesley (women's 400m hurdles) and Danny Talbot (men's 200m), who enter the competition today.
Olympic and world champion Mo Farah is also set to take the stage in the 10,0000m, after recovering from illness which ruled him out of competing in Glasgow.
