Three through to semi-finals at European Indoors

Irish sprinting star Israel Olatunde lead a trio of Irish athletes who progressed at European Indoor Championships in Istanbul on Saturday morning.

Olatunde impressed once again in the men's 60m race, securing automatic qualification in this afternoon's semi-finals with a fourth placed finish in his heat, crossing the line in a time of 6.68.

The 20-year-old will be targeting a similar run to the one that saw him break the Irish indoor 60m record last month and the time of 6.57 will be very much in his sights.

Darragh McElhinney (3000m) and Sarah Lavin (60m hurdles) will also be in action in the later stages of their events.

World Indoor finalist Sarah Lavin showed her potential as she finished second in her heat in a time of 8.03.

Lavin, who has improved consistently throughout the winter finished only .01 of a second behind Switzerland's Mujinga Kambundji and will be confident of progressing from the semi-finals.

Lavin will be back on track tomorrow for her semi-finals, as will UCD AC athlete McElhinney who was fourth in his 3000m heat, crossing the line in 7:51.11.