Erik Erlandsson made it to the EM final on 200 metres – with a hundredth of a margin.
Suddenly, things started to get messy.
Erlandsson was stripped of his final spot by the organiser – who then changed their mind and looked at the matter again – and ultimately informed that the Swede is eligible for the final.
Both Erlandsson and Tomas Nemejc, Czech Republic, had the same time and shared eighth place.
First, both were told they were eligible. Then, Erlandsson was removed from the final. The national coach, Kajsa Bergqvist, approached the competition management and, a short while later, the 20-year-old Swede had a 'q' beside his name in the results list, indicating he was qualified. And Bergqvist let it be known that she was 100% sure that Erlandsson would be allowed to participate in the final as the ninth runner.
At 11.23 pm, Bergqvist announced that the matter would be looked at again – and 45 minutes later, the Swedish Athletics Federation stated that "video judge Anna Palmerius announced that there will be nine runners in the 200-metre final".
In the semi-final, Erlandsson improved his personal best by another three hundredths with a time of 20.52.
Erlandsson then had a nervous wait for the final semi-final to be decided.
After all the twists and turns, it became clear that both runners-up in the semi-final heats would run in tomorrow's final.
Erlandsson lowered his personal best by 34 hundredths in the two opening rounds of the EM.
Last year's sprinter Lisa Lilja, who switched to 400 metres, regrets not switching distances after setting a personal best and qualifying for the EM semi-final.
In the semi-final, she finished last in 52.55.
She set a personal best in the heats with a time of 52.18.
High jumper Maja Nilsson cleared 1.90m in the final and finished last. Nilsson, who was in the final at the 2021 Olympics, was out of action for a year due to a knee injury.
