Great Britain's Sam Ellis and Michael Rimmer both reached the final of the 800 metres following Thursday night's semi-finals.

Ellis, after almost blowing his chances of a medal after blazing away in his heat, adopted totally different tactics, letting his rivals set the pace.

It paid off as the former AAA champion qualified for Sunday's final automatically by finishing third in 1 minute 49.23 seconds, marginally behind Florent Lacasse of France and Dutchman Bram Som.

Rimmer fastest in the qualifiers, struggled in his race when going from first to fifth in the burn-up down the home straight and ended up crossing the line in fifth.

But his time of 1min 47.82secs, just 0.70secs behind Spanish winner Miguel Quesada, was good enough to see him make the final.

After securing a safe passage into the final Ellis said: "I took a lot away from yesterday's heat and wasn't making that mistake again. I timed it a lot better and I was much more tactically aware. I'm much happier with that."

Meanwhile Rimmer added: "I didn't feel too good - a bit tight and sore. I'm lucky to get through.

"With 120m to go I was so comfortable but I went to pieces, I really did. But I'm in the final so it's all to play for now."