At his fifth major outdoor Track Championships, Ballymena and Antrim's sprint king Paul Brizzel has qualified for the first time in his seven-year career for the quarter finals of the 200m.

His season's best time of 20.75 from the second lane in heat two was enough to finish fifth behind Mauritius' Stephane Buckland (20.38) in the second fastest heat of the morning. The Irish champion failed to secure one of the top three automatic places but advanced with the fourth quickest time of eight fastest losers thanks to some poor later heats.

This evening's quarter finals will see his main objective as dipping under the Olympic qualifying time of 20.59 and perhaps troubling his Irish record of 20.54, set three years ago.