A CHANGE in approach helped Lawrence Clarke as he safely progressed into tonight’s 110m hurdles semi-final in the European Athletics Championships.

The athlete from Christmas Common, near Watlington, eased through in Zurich by finishing third in his heat yesterday morning.

It came after a disappointing performance in the Commonwealth Games last month, where the 24-year-old finished last in the Glasgow final.

It prompted a re-think from Clarke, who said: “The last six weeks have gone very badly in terms of my races so I had a session on Friday when I re-evaluated the game plan.

“I am now not thinking about the hurdle at all – just thinking about running in between – quite the opposite of Glasgow, where I seemed to hit every hurdle.

“It seems to have paid off as I didn’t think I was pushing it to get in the top three and I ran 13.46, which is 0.4 quicker than in the Commonwealth Games final (13.84).”

The semi-final is at 6.15pm this evening, with the final at 8.50pm.

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