Chris O’Hare admitted he left nothing nothing to chance as he qualified fastest for the men's 1500m final at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich.
O’Hare, who saw his mid-season disrupted by a hamstring injury before finishing sixth at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, went in the second of the two heats.
With four automatic places up for grabs in a field of 16, O’Hare knew he would face plenty of competition.
But after timing his run to perfection, the 23-year-old crossed the line first in a time of 3:39.24 before quickly turning his attention to targeting a medal in Sunday's final.
“I'm happy with that - I tried to stay out of trouble,” he said.
“I just sat back and watched the race for the first two laps, then come 300m to go, I went and with 50m to go, it was easier than I thought so I stretched away.
“You've got to take the heat like a final because if you don't, you'll be watching it on TV.
“Now, I've got a day to rest and I think I've got a healthy shot of the silver or bronze medal.”
Joining O’Hare will be fellow Brit Charlie Grice after he finished second in the first heat.
The reigning British 1500m champion clocked a time of 3:39.41 minutes behind Norway’s Henrik Ingebrigtsen to leave Great Britain well placed going into the final.
Elsewhere Morgan Lake was unable to make it a hat-trick of qualifications by British athletes in Friday’s morning session after she failed to progress from the women’s high jump.
The 17-year-old had been in confident mood having claimed the world junior heptathlon and high jump titles in Oregon last month.
But her clearance of 1.85m left her out of the qualification spots in joint 17th, with the teenager visibly disappointed with her result.
© Sportsbeat 2014