The women's 200m final tomorrow is shaping up into a brilliant duel between Britain's Dina Asher-Smith and Bulgaria's Ivet Lalova-Collio.
Last summer Asher-Smith broke the 31-year-old national record when she ran 22.07 and she looked so dominant today with victory in her semi-final heat in season's best of 22.57.
There was no stopping her, as she broke superbly to win ahead of Tessa van Schagen (22.95), of the Netherlands, and Germany's Lisa Mayer (23.06).
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Then in the next heat Lalova-Collio matched Asher-Smith's time with a superb run of her own as she beat Nataliya Pohrebnyak (22.98), of the Ukraine, who also made it through.
'Today's semi-final was important because it gives me confidence for the final,' said Lalova-Collio.
.@IvetLalova qualified for the 200m final in 22.57: 'I didn't expect to run that fast' she said #ECH2016 pic.twitter.com/LExrrNxWkg
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) July 6, 2016
Yuliya Stepanova competed in the 800m running under the European Athletics flag but she suffered an injury with 200m left and ended up limping home in heat two, which was won by Switzerland's Selina Büchel in 2:04.50. Heading into the semi-finals, France's Renelle Lamote set the first round standard with 2:01.60 from the opening race.
After the morning session, Norway's Martin Roe led the decathlon with 2591 points from Oleksiy Kasyanov (2586) and Mihail Dudas (2546) but that all changed following the high jump, the first event of the evening programme.
Roe had a best of 1.89m, which saw him 21st overall and with 1.98m, Ukrainian Kasyanov moved back into the lead with 3371 from Serbian Dudas, whose personal best of 2.01m took him to 3359.
But it was some discipline for Belgium's Thomas van der Plaetsen, as his brilliant jumping moved him into third with 3354 as he won on countback on 2.10m from Estonia's Kristjan Rosenberg.
The last event of the night was the decathlon's 400m and with victory in the final heat in 48.97, Kasyanov ensured he enters the second day in charge.
That race banked him 863 points for a first-day total of 4234 from Dudas with 4199, after 49.45 as he finished second behind Kasyanov, with Spain's Jorge Urena up into third with 4152 (after a 400m of 50.07) from van der Plaetsen (4146) and Roe (4105).
Standings after 5 events in the decathlon #ECH2016 pic.twitter.com/BV36D08nEN
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) July 6, 2016
Below is the predicted outcome of the Decathlon based on statistical analysis:
Here's the predicted outcome of the Decathlon based on statistical analysis. Let's see what happens tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/sxawAFInCM
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) July 6, 2016
France's Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad was the fastest in the two heats of the 3000m steeplechase - and you could probably put your shirt on him winning gold in the event again.
Let's not forget what happened two years ago in Zurich when he was in the home straight of the final on his way to a hat-trick of titles in the event.
Such was his excitement that Mekhissi-Benabbad took off his vest and waved it to the crowd in celebration and his actions consequently saw him disqualified.
He came back a few days later to win the 1500m title and now he wants steeplechase gold again, progressing in 8:31.42.
Fellow Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie, chasing a fourth successive European title, topped qualification for the pole vault final with his only effort of 5.60m, while Serbia's European Indoor champion Ivana Spanovic's 6.90m was a clear best mark in long jump qualification.
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At the Museumplein, it was a great afternoon for Finland's defending javelin champion as he reached a season's best distance of 88.23m with his opening throw to show how much he wants to keep hold of his crown.
And back in the Olympic Stadium, Germany's Christina Schwanitz, another Zurich gold medallist, also needed only one round to make the final of her event as she was the best in the shot put qualifying with 19.02m.
Just one man broke 50 seconds in the pre-qualifying heats of the 400m hurdles, but Slovakia's Martin Kucera could not have run better as he produced a personal best of 49.56 to reach the semi-finals.