Katarina Johnson-Thompson ended the first day of the heptathlon in 14th place after a fine showing in the 100m hurdles, high jump and the 200m.
The competition is currently led by fellow Brit Jessica Ennis but teenager Johnson-Thompson started in superb fashion.
She was in third place after the 100m hurdles and a personal best of 1.89m in the high jump, but joked afterwards that would not last long due to her weak shot put.
The 19-year-old from Liverpool was proved correct after a best of 11.32m dropped her all the way to 20th place, but a run of 23.73 saw her end the day 14th on 3,769 points, 389 behind Ennis. Commonwealth champion Louise Hazel was down in 34th after a costly best of just 1.59m in the high jump.
Elsewhere in the stadium, Greg Rutherford and Chris Tomlinson qualified for the long jump final in fourth and fifth respectively, while Andy Baddeley and Ross Murray made the semi-finals of the 1,500m.
Baddeley hailed the atmosphere as the best he has ever experienced, adding: "It's the most unbelievable thing ever. The best crowd I've run in before was the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, 83,000 going nuts in a race which (Australia's) Craig Mottram was in.
"But this is something else, to another level, so noisy it's unbelievable. It was a tough heat but it was all about getting in the first six and that's what I made sure I did."
Murray, who was fourth in a quick opening heat in 3:36.74, added: "I'm delighted with that - no-one wants to be that guy who goes out in the heats do they? It's brisk but choppy with people cutting across you, you get clipped. I'm a wounded little soldier at the minute but it's all part of the fun.
You've got to give it back and stand your ground, though you can't go overboard, though, and get yourself disqualified for giving someone a black eye."
Britain's Abi Oyepitan then advanced to the semi-finals of the 100m as one of the fastest losers from the seven heats, but team-mate Anyika Onuora missed out. Both athletes were fifth in their high-class heats, with Oyepitan clocking 11.22s and Onuora 11.41 as world champion Carmelita Jeter led the qualifiers in a time of 10.83.