Dai Greene goes with the flow but Martyn Rooney rues near-miss tactics

There were no major upsets for Great Britain on day two of the European Championships in Barcelona, as Charles van Commenee's team smoothly progressed through the heats on their way to semi-finals and finals. One of Britain's strongest medal contenders – the 400m hurdler Dai Greene, currently ranked No1 in Europe – showed his class in the heats, easily pulling away from the field before slowing to finish in 50.11sec. "It felt really comfortable and I knew it would be beforehand really," said the Swansea man, who is trained by Colin Jackson's former coach Malcolm Arnold. "It was just a case of getting through the first round." The former Swansea City academy left-winger, who ditched football for athletics, added: "I'm not too worried about the pressure on me. I just want to perform to the best of my ability, be professional and not take anything for granted." Martyn Rooney – who is the favourite to win a medal in the flat 400m – left the track cursing, however. The 23-year-old's tactics were all over the place as he missed out on the automatic qualifying spots for the final – although he did qualify as a fastest loser. Up against Belgium's Jonathan Borlée, an identical twin and the fastest man in Europe this year, Rooney appeared to panic, attacking the first 200m too hard, then slowing down inexplicably in the second half of the race. "I made mistakes, silly mistakes," said the World Championships silver 4x400m medallist. "If I had run the race properly I would have been comfortable, but I didn't, so it was stupid. You can't make those mistakes in the final. If you do then as you see just now, I got punished." Borlée comfortably won the race in very fast time of 44.71sec. "I knew it was going to be quick," said Rooney, "with the No1 in Europe [Jonathan Borlée] and the No3 in Europe [David Gillick], and Leslie Dhjone." Michael Bingham fared better, winning his semi-final in a season's best 44.88sec, but Conrad Williams missed out. It may take a personal best from Rooney to resurrect his hopes in Friday's final that includes the Borlée twins, the experienced Dhjone and the sheer speed of Ireland's Gillick. "Maybe," said Rooney, "I think Borlée ran a good race, you'll have to ask him how much quicker he thinks he can go – I've just got to make sure I run my race in the final." In the women's 100m heats, Linford Christie's charge Laura Turner – ranked second fastest in Europe this year – ran a conservative race, finishing second to Anna Gurova of Russia in 11.45, only the seventh fastest time of the day. "Good – that was good," said the 27-year-old. "It was nice and comfortable. I came to qualify for the semis so that is job done. The time was not important this morning, the real stuff starts tomorrow night [Thursday], so it was a case of qualify and then show time tomorrow." Michael Rimmer showed his class in the 800m heats, despite being boxed in for most of the race, as he took control on the final bend, cruised out of the pack and won comfortably in 1min 49.99sec. "It was good," said the 24-year-old, "when I got to the bell I was surprised it was so slow. I was boxed in and got slightly itchy feet and I wanted to get out, but I just had to be patient. "I was confident once I did get out, I'd be fine. It's a case of get through, recover and get ready for tomorrow." Kate Dennison, the British record holder in the pole vault, led her qualifying pool to make tomorrow's final. "Job done," she said. "For Berlin in the Worlds last year I must have taken about eight or nine jumps to get to final. But here I only needed three so hopefully I'll be nice and fresh for the final." The European No1 Andy Baddeley easily won his 1500m heat. The 28 year-old who finished sixth at the last European Championships in 2006, looks likely to win his first senior medal in tomorrow's final. The biggest casualty of the day was 31-year-old Lee McConnell. The two-time world championship 4x400m relay bronze medallist was knocked out in the semi-finals, finishing fourth in a disappointing time of 53.15 sec.