British duo faster than Boldon

Ato Boldon hopes to add 200m gold to silver in the 100

Britain's Darren Campbell and Christian Malcolm both set personal bests as they qualified for the 200m semi-finals.

Campbell beat favourite Ato Boldon in his second round heat, while Malcolm was also faster than the man from Trindidad and Tobago.

But there was disappointment for the third Briton Marlon Devonish who finished seventh in his heat after complaining of a hamstring injury.

Campbell, so disappointed with his sixth place in the 100m final, won his heat with Boldon in 20.13 seconds with Boldon third in a time 15 hundredths slower.

It shocked me to run so quickly

  Christian Malcolm

European indoor champion Malcolm was almost as quick, setting a mark of 20.19 to come second behind American John Capel, who ran 20.13 seconds.

Capel's team-mate Floyd Heard also won his heat in 20.24 with Devonish seventh in a distant 20.82.

A third American Coby Miller was second best to Barbadian Obadele Thompson, who scorched to a time of 20.16 - the third quickest after Campbell and Capel.

The semi-finals and final all take place on Thursday.

Christian Malcolm, delighted at breaking his own Welsh record with a time of 20.19 that moved him to fifth on the British all-time lists, said:

"It shocked me to run so quickly.

"I thought a fast time would come in the final, and possibly the semi, but I've smashed it.

"I went off hard from the start, even more so on the bend and then felt comfortable in the finishing straight.

"I wasn't running for a time here. All I really wanted to do was finish in the top two."

After the failure in the US trials of 100m champion Maurice Greene and 400m gold medallist Michael Johnson, Ato Boldon was the clear favourite.

The West Indian has marked out Thompson and Capel as his major challengers.