Neil Gourley and Guy Learmonth make progress at European Indoor Championships in Istanbul

Scottish athletes Neil Gourley and Guy Learmonth both qualified for the men’s 1500metres final and 800m semi-finals respectively on the first day of the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul.

Neil Gourley is safely through to the men's 1500m in Istanbul.

Gourley, who clocked the fastest time of 3:41.08 and is joined by fellow Brit George Mills in Friday night’s showpiece, said: “The idea was to get through as smoothly as possible. I contributed a bit, to keep it moving and stay out in front a little bit, so I am happy with the way I handled it. This is the focus of the indoor season, so we are going to pour everything into it to win tomorrow [Friday].”

Learmonth’s passage to the next stage of the 800m was less straightforward, but his time of 1:47.51 was enough to see him through.

Elsewhere, defending champion Keely Hodgkinson safely qualified for the semi-finals of the 800m. Hodgkinson, who turns 21 on Friday, won her heat at the Atakoy Athletics Arena in a time of two minutes and 1.67 seconds ahead of Germany’s Majtie Kolberg.

Guy Learmonth also progressed in 800m.

“It was okay. I felt like I was front-running around, you don’t want to make any mistakes ,” said Hodgkinson, who set a new British record when winning the World Indoor Tour in Birmingham last week. You are happy to qualify and that it was not a messy race, so you are clean through. Sometimes running at that pace is harder than what you are used to, I am actually quite tired, but I am sure I will be okay by Saturday then come back on Sunday to get the job done.”

Hodgkinson was runner-up at the World Championships in Eugene last year and also won Olympic silver in Tokyo as well as the 2022 European outdoor title. I will spend my birthday recovering (on Friday),” she told BBC Sport. “It will be a nice present to myself if I can (then) defend my title.

Isabelle Boffey also won her heat in 2min 3.24sec to progress. The Enfield & Haringey athlete said: “It is always a bit weird going on a new track, so I am definitely happy to have got the win now and to have secured the auto-qualification for the semi-final. I am learning how to do the big races and have got a lot better at that this year, so it is just sort of repeating what I have done this season.”