He complained of exhaustion after the 200m heats that came hard on the heels of the 100m final which he won, but a night’s sleep worked wonders for James Alaka of Great Britain as he stormed to a 20.59PB in heat one on Saturday morning. In second there was a national record for Belarus’ Aliaksandr Linnik of 20.64.

The riposte from Greece’s Likourgos-Stefanos Tsakonas in semi-final two was 20.57, also a personal best with the locals cheering themselves hoarse for Pavel Maslak’s 20.66PB to qualify as runner-up.

Ivan Tukhtachev of Russia controlled the first heat of the 1500m with aplomb, always in the lead pack and going to the front with 250 to go, crossing the line while throttling back for 3:41.37. Season’s fastest, Florian Carvalho of France, was an untroubled third.

With no one prepared to take the pace in the second heat, Jeroen D’Hoedt of Belgium decided it was best to avoid a last-lap rush and did duty at the front. The tactic paid off and he crossed the line in an untroubled 3:46.07, Russian second-string, Marc Tolstikhin, rushing through for second.