Adam Gemili fastest qualifier for European 200m final

Adam Gemili qualified quickest for Friday's 200m final at the European Championships in Zurich.

The 20-year-old Briton, who also set the fastest time in the heats, easily won his semi-final in 20.23 seconds.

Dina Asher-Smith, 18, smashed Kathy Cook's 35-year-old British junior record as she made her first senior final with a personal best of 22.61.

She will be joined in the women's final by 20-year-old team-mates Bianca Williams and Jodie Williams.

It is the first time three British women have made a European 200m final in more than half a century.

Gemili, who won silver in the 100m at the Commonwealth Games, ran a brilliant bend and looks in shape to upset France's 2010 champion Christophe Lemaitre, who had to work harder to win the first semi-final in 20.26.

"It takes you by surprise how quickly you are winning," Gemili told the BBC.

"It's a very good track but championship running is about saving energy. I slowed down and I've got more to show."

But team-mates James Ellington and Danny Talbot missed out on joining Gemili in the final.

Ellington, 28, finished fifth in the first semi-final in 20.52 - the same time managed by Poland's Karol Zalewski.

It meant the last fastest loser spot for the final went down to thousandths of a second, with Ellington eventually eked out after a 29-minute wait.

Asher-Smith, the world junior champion, had found out before the morning's heats that she had got the A-Level results she needed to get into King's College, London.

"I just really couldn't have asked for much more out of this day," Asher-Smith told the BBC.

"I'm going into the final fit and I feel I can go faster than I did as I slowed down at the end.

"When I saw the time maybe I've dipped under the junior record and I have. I'm over the moon. I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow."

Dafne Schippers, who won 100m gold on Wednesday, again looked the class act and will start as favourite, but Jodie Williams - fresh off a PB in winning Commonwealth silver - could barely have been more comfortable in winning the third semi, easing down over the last 25m in 22.90.

"I just did as much as I needed to do," Jodie Williams told BBC Sport. "Dafne Schippers is an amazing athlete but anyone's beatable and I'm going to be on that line wanting to win."

But Bianca Williams was unhappy with her performance, saying: "My body's tired. I ran enough at the Commonwealth Games so to make the final here I'm happy. I'm tired but I just want to do better in the final."

Scotland's two Commonwealth heroines Eilidh Child and Lynsey Sharp look ready to build on their Glasgow success after impressive wins in their respective semi-finals.

Child, the fastest 400m hurdler in Europe this year, beat one of her major rivals in Denisa Rosalova as she came away in 54.71 seconds.

Sharp was forced into the unfamiliar tactic of front-running in the second 800m semi-final but controlled the race impressively, coming home in two minutes, 01.32 seconds with England's Jess Judd, 19, hanging on to third to join her in Saturday's final.

Alison Leonard dropped out of the first semi-final after two collisions on the final lap.