Alistair Cragg and David Gillick kept their medal defences alive today on the first day of the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham. David Gillick came through an interesting 400m semi final that saw him content to sit in behind Robert Tobin from GB for the first half of the race. Then, with an eye on the lane draw for the final, he tried to pass Tobin with 100m to go but did not succeed. A further effort in the finishing straight was more fruitful and Gillick edged ahead on the line. “That was Ok. Robert and I go back a long way but it was still important to win the semi final for the lane draw. Maybe I should have gone a little quicker but overall I am very happy. I'm ready and looking forward to the final.” Was the reaction of Gillick. The Mens 800m Heats saw both Thomas Chamney and David McCarthy in action. Chamney finished a comfortable second after leading the field through 200m, 400m and 600m in his heat to qualify for the semi final tomorrow in a pedestrian 1:55.58, one of his slowest 8’s of the season. McCarthy put in an excellent performance in his heat. The Kildare runner, who wasn’t expected to be in the team, came home in a time of 1:49.60 to place him third in his heat and third fastest overall. Deirdre Ryan was also in action in the High Jump. Ryan failed to reach the final as she could only clear 1.84m, which was not good enough to take the Dubliner through. Liam Hennessy, Chair of the High Performance Committee, was particularly pleased with the team’s performance on the first day. “It was a great first day for us. Alistair Cragg and David Gillick both performed well and are in good shape for tomorrow’s finals. There were also some excellent performances in the 800m from Thomas Chamney and in particular David McCarthy, who everyone was surprised to see here, and they will both be confident of taking a final spot tomorrow”, Hennessy said after day one. Tomorrow’s action will see both Gillick and Cragg defend their titles in the finals of the 400m and 3000m respectively. Anna Boyle will be in action in the heats of the 60m as will Paul Hession, while James Nolan, Gareth Turnbull and Liam Reale will all be running in the heats of the 1500m. Irish Results Men 3000m Heats Overall Placings 3rd Alistair Cragg 7:53.18 (Qualified for final) 20th Mark Carroll 8:12.60 (Did not qualify) 22nd Mark Christie 8:33.61 (Did not qualify) Men 400m Heats Overall Placings 2nd David Gillick 46.70 (Qualified for semi final) Men 800m Heats Overall Placings 3rd David McCarthy 1:49.60 (Qualified for semi final) 14th Thomas Chamney 1:55.58 (Qualified for semi final) Women High Jump Qualifying Round Deirdre Ryan 1.84 (Did not qualify) Men 400m Semi Final Overall Placings 2nd David Gillick 46.16 (Qualified for final)