World Athletics Championships: Great Britain win silver in men's 4x100m relay

Great Britain set a European record of 37.36 seconds to take silver in the men's 4x100m relay at the World Athletics Championships despite Zharnel Hughes injuring his hamstring.

The USA's gold-winning time of 37.10 seconds was the second fastest in history, behind Jamaica's world record set at the London 2012 Olympics.

But British quartet Adam Gemili, Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake pushed them close.

Japan took bronze in 37.43 seconds.

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Hughes, who ran the second leg for Britain, told BBC Sport: "I think I strained my hamstring I pulled it just before I handed over the baton but I knew I had to give it to Richard [Kilty] regardless because I wanted the guys to get a medal."

While the Americans struggled with their changeovers, they were able to boast a team containing 100m champion Christian Coleman, 100m silver medallist Justin Gatlin and 200m winner Noah Lyles.

With Michael Rodgers also running a solid third leg around the bend, the raw speed of Lyles on the anchor leg confirmed their victory.

However, the British four will be heartened by another impressive showing moments after the women's team had also taken silver.

They shaved more than a 10th of a second off their gold-winning effort from 2017, despite Hughes' injury and minor glitches at two baton changes.

"It took an American record, the second fastest time ever to beat us," Kilty said. "Zharnel is a proper warrior. When I saw him flying down the straight, I heard something happen so I knew I had to slow a bit."

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Britain's Proctor & Irozuru into long jump final

Earlier in the day, Britain's Shara Proctor and Abigail Irozuru qualified for Sunday's final long jump final.

Irozuru, 29, qualified in sixth with a best jump of 6.70m while Proctor, 31, who won world silver in 2015, qualified in eighth with 6.63.

Britain also qualified for Sunday's women's and men's 4x400m relay finals, although the men's team of only Cameron Chambers, Rabah Yousif, Martyn Rooney and Lee Thompson scraped through after Botswana were disqualified.

Zoey Clark, Jodie Williams, Jessica Turner and Laviai Nielsen went through in 3:24.99, the third fastest qualifying time.

Compatriot Cindy Ofili, 25, who was fourth in the 100m hurdles at the 2016 Rio Olympics, finished third in her heat to qualify for Sunday's semi-finals.

But there was a shock in that event, with Olympic champion Brianna McNeal disqualified for a false start in the heats.

The American, visibly upset leaving the track, was contesting her first global championships since the 2016 Rio Games after missing London 2017 while banned for missing three drugs tests.

Brianna McNeal could not believe she had been disqualified

Kovacs throws big to win shot put

The United States extended their lead in the medal table to 11 golds, with Joe Kovacs winning the men's shot put with his throw of 22.91m - the joint third best put of all time.

His compatriot and pre-event favourite, Olympic champion Ryan Crouser, took silver with 22.90m by virtue of a better second throw than New Zealand's Tom Walsh, who took the bronze with the same distance.

Defending champion Yulimar Rojas won gold in the women's triple jump for Venezuela as she posted a distance of 15.37m.

Jamaica's Shanieka Ricketts took silver with Colombia's Caterine Ibarguen getting the bronze.

In the men's javelin, Germany's Johannes Vetter led the way in qualifying for Sunday's final with a throw of 89.35m.

But his compatriots - Olympic champion Thomas Rohler and 2018 Diamond League winner Andreas Hoffman - failed to make the final.

Earlier in the day, the organisers announced that fan attendance figures on Friday had climbed above 40,000 for the first time.

With local favourite Qatar's Mutaz Barshim in action to win gold in the men's high jump, Friday's official attendance of 42,180 was over five times more than the number of people who watched the women's 100m final last Sunday.