Irish middle-distance runner Mark English broke a longstanding European championships record in the 800 meters when he won his semifinal heat on Wednesday.
English finished in 1 minute, 43.49 seconds to eclipse Olaf Beyer's championship record of 1:43.84 set in 1978 in Prague.
"It is nice to have the record, for sure, and I felt really good doing it. But there will be a lot of really good guys in the final tomorrow, a lot of really talented runners, so I'll need to discuss tactics now after this," the 33-year-old English said as he looked ahead to Thursday's final.
Beyer, who represented East Germany, had upset British stars Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe for the title 48 years ago.
"I saw the record before the race and I thought it would probably be broken by someone at these championships," English, a two-time bronze medalist at the European championships, said.
English gave a shoutout to the Irish fans at Alexander Stadium: "I heard them before the race, I heard them during the race, I heard them after it. I think close to 15 percent of tickets sold went to Irish fans so it's amazing to [be] running in front of such a crowd."
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Brits Ben Pattison and Max Burgin also progressed to the final on Wednesday.
Burgin emerged out of the pack on the final lap of the first semifinal and crossed the line in 1:44.73, ahead of Croatia's Marino Bloudek and Spain's David Barroso.
The Halifax-born athlete saw his chances at this summer's Commonwealth Games ruined by a virus, but he will get the chance to compete for a medal in Thursday's showpiece at the Alexander Stadium, where temperatures are set to hit around 34 degrees.
"With preparation coming in to this, I wasn't confident in my overall fitness," Burgin said. "But everything had suggested that speed and a change of pace worked to get me through.
Information from Press Association and Associated Press contributed to this report.