Kelly Proper ran a personal best of 23.15 to come fifth in the first women's 200m semi-final this evening but fell just short of qualifying for the European Championships final in Zurich.

The Waterford woman was 10th fastest overall from 22 finishers in the Letzigrund Stadium, having improved significantly on the 23.37 she ran in the heats this morning when she was ranked 14th overall.

Her time would have seen her qualify for the final from the third heat.

Laura Reynolds withdrew from the 20km walk this morning, when a combination of illness and injury forced her to pull out just before the halfway mark.

Reynolds was never in contention and found herself dropped from the leaders after just 4km.

Victory went to the Russian Elmira Alembekova, in 1:27.56.

Ballymena’s Christine McMahon (57.31 seconds) was eighth in here 400m hurdles semi-final in the evening session, Britain’s Eilidh Child winning comfortably at the other end of the field in a time of 54.71.