By Ian Gordon, PA Sport, Paris

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Britain's trio of sprint hopefuls swept into the 200metres quarter-finals at the World Championships in Paris on Wednesday morning.

Olympic silver medallist Darren Campbell, who won an unexpected bronze in the 100m on Monday night, led the way as he cruised through his first-round heat with victory in 20.54seconds.

Campbell was joined in the next round later in the day by former Commonwealth champion Julian Golding and Christian Malcolm.

British hopes had also been given a boost on Tuesday night when the Olympic, World and European champion Konstadinos Kederis of Greece pulled out with a thigh injury which his federation did not want to risk with the Games in Athens just 12 months away.

Golding, who almost quit the sport after a three-year injury nightmare before returning to win the trials last month, finished third in his heat in 20.82secs heat.

"In the first round it is just a case of getting through," said the 28-year-old Londoner. "I had to get up really early this morning so that felt good."

South Africa's Sherwin Vries won the heat in 20.73secs from Holland's Troy Douglas (20.76).

Malcolm, wearing tinted sunglasses in the Stade de France, also finished third to claim the last automatic qualifying slot. "That was cool - I'm happy," he said.

The Welshman is quietly being tipped as a potential medallist having finished fifth at the last Worlds with the belief he would have come away with silverware from Edmonton had he not also reached the 100m final.

Malcolm eased his way across the line in 20.65 as Stephane Buckland of Mauritius won in 20.38 from Anastasios Gousis (20.57) who is carrying Greek hopes following the withdrawal of Kederis.

Ireland's Paul Brizzel had a lengthy wait before discovering that his season's best time of 20.75 when finishing fifth in Malcolm's heat was good enough to qualify as a fastest loser.