Pride of place goes to the two finals (reported elsewhere), the men’s shot and 10000m on the first day of the Ostrava 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships. In the shot Germany’s David Storl triumphed with a new championship best 20.45m while Norway’s Sondre Norstad Moen collected gold in the first track final of the championships in a personal best 28:41.66.

The evening heats of the men’s 100m saw Italy’s Francesco Basciani take heat one in 10.50. Fellow Italian, Michael Tumi crossed the line first in the second heat in 10.48, two metres clear of Latvia’s Elvijs Misans. Favourite James Alaka of Great Britain was 0.01 down on Tumi’s fastest of the round in heat three, but looked well in control.

Nigel Levine of Great Britain and Vladimir Krasnov of Russia  are heading for a serious head-to-head in the 400m final on Saturday after they were only separated by 0.03 in the heats, clocking 46.22 and 46.25 respectively.

In the men’s 800m, defending champion, Adam Kszczot of Poland, took heat one from fast finishing Mario Scapini of Italy. But fastest of the three rounds was Spain’s Kevin Lopez who clocked a swift 1:47.43 in heat two while Britain’s Mukhtar Mohammed won the third heat.