Luke Cutts bows out in qualification at European Athletics Championships

Cutts had three failures at the 5.50m qualifying mark on Wednesday night and went out of the competition with a best clearance of 5.35m.

Three-time champion Renaud Lavillenie went highest in qualification with a clearance over 5.60m and will be favourite for gold in the final on Friday evening.

In the first track final of the championships, Great Britain's Jo Pavey lost her 10,000m crown but recorded an Olympic qualifying mark in finishing fifth.

The 42-year-old finished strongly in the final laps to close down a number of her rivals and record a time of 31.34.61.

Pavey won a surprise gold at the 40 years old two years ago in Zurich and her performance in Holland will put the ball firmly in the British selectors' court ahead of next week's Rio announcement.

Pavey said: “I just gave it my all today. I feel so honoured to be running at these Championships and representing the British team once again, it has been a great opportunity.

“I have been struggling with form and fitness but each week I have been getting that little bit quicker. All I could do was run my absolute hardest.

“We’ve had so many great performances from the girls this year, Jess (Andrews) and Beth (Potter) ran superbly to secure their spots in Rio and the 5000m girls have been very strong as well. I’ve just been focusing on the fact that I had an opportunity to run at these championships, I’m pleased with the time and we’ll have to see about selection for Rio.

“I feel like I have made progress. Last time around at these championships I had fond memories of winning but I wasn’t in that kind of shape today. I’m pleased to have made progress and I really enjoyed it.”

Meanwhile, Britain's fastest woman Dina Asher-Smith ran a season best time of 22.57sec to progress in the women's 200m semi-finals.

Asher-Smith said: “I am very happy with that, I didn’t expect to run so quickly in the semi-final. It was a nice track and a really good run for me, so I’m excited for the final.”

The Blackheath and Bromley athlete will be joined by compatriot Jodie Williams in the final after she claimed the second of two fastest qualifier spots.

The silver medallist from two years ago finished third in her semi-final in 23.14, but after a nervous wait confirmed her place in another European final.