Ireland’s top medal hopes Alistair Cragg and David Gillick both put in solid performances this morning at the start of the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham. Gillick was on top form in this morning’s heats for the 400m. He finished 1st in his heat in a time of 46.70, the fastest of all the heats, which qualifies him for this evenings semi final. "I´m pleased to get round 1 out of the way. I just wanted to get through and save as much energy as possible. The lanes were a little tight so I was pleased with my time as well. It´s good to have the show on the road." said Gillick Cragg was running in the Men’s 3000m and finished third in his heat and third overall in a time of 7:53.18, which easily qualified him for tomorrow’s final. "I'm ready, I felt very good today. I feel sorry for Mo, you dont want that to happen to anyone. I could have injected some pace at that point but didn't want to do that. Then one of the Spanish guys injected the pace anyway. I am sure Mo will still qualify. The final will be a level playing field we will all be fresh and it's anyones game." said Cragg. Mark Carroll was also running in the 3000m along with Mullingar’s Mark Christie. Carroll finished his heat in 10th in a time of 8:12.60, while Christie was in the same heat and finished in 12th with a time of 8:33.61, neither of which qualified them for the final. Ireland’s Deirdre Ryan will compete in this afternoon’s High Jump qualifying round, while David Gillick will look to secure his place in tomorrow’s 400m Final when he runs in the semi final just after 6pm tonight.