Paula pulls out of 5,000m

Paula Radcliffe today abandoned her quest for double glory at the European Championships, deciding not to compete in the 5,000 metres here in Munich.

Following her epic 10,000m win with the second fastest time in history on Tuesday, Radcliffe thought long and hard before feeling that she might overstretch herself by competing in the shorter event.

"Things are going so well, I didn't want to push it too far. I've got to think about the Chicago marathon in the autumn," said Radcliffe, who is the British women's team captain.

Meanwhile, her team continue to prosper. Ashia Hansen, seeking to follow Radcliffe with a Commonwealth-European double, this morning leapt into Saturday's triple jump final as second leading qualifier with a 14.22m jump.

Darren Campbell showed no effects from his 100m bronze medal exertions as he won his opening round heat in the 200m. Marlon Devonish and Christian Malcolm also breezed into tonight's second round.

Daniel Caines is out to beat home favourite Ingo Schultz in the 400m final tonight.

The Munich crowd loves the big Hamburger, who is a world championship silver medallist, but Midlander Caines, who calls the Olympiastadion "Ingo's house", could devour him.

Jonathan Edwards has pronounced himself fit in a bid to retain his triple jump title tonight after aggravating an old injury in Tuesday's qualifying, but Londoner Phillips Idowu, runner-up to the Olympic champion in Manchester, is confident he can dethrone the master.

Kelly Holmes, though, will have her work cut out to strike gold in the 800m against Jolanda Ceplak, Slovenia's striking new star of the track.