Eleven Norwich Union Great Britain and Northern Ireland athletes successfully negotiated their first challenges on the first day of the European Junior Championships, which have attracted more than 900 competitors from 46 nations to Hengelo in the Netherlands. Read on to see how the athletes set about their tasks and what they say about their performances on Thursday 19 July.

Decathlon: Men’s Team Captain Daniel Awde (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies) was the first Norwich Union GB&NI athlete in action – and finished the opening day within 69 points of a medal position.

He gave himself and the team a flying start in the first of his 10 events, the 100m (wind: +0.3 metres per second) by clocking a lifetime best of 10.85 seconds, an improvement of a full tenth of a second on his previous fastest. His sprint earned him fourth place both in his heat and overall among the 22 competitors for 894 points behind the first three in his heat: 1 Sveinn Elias Eliasson (Iceland) 10.73 seconds / 922 points; 2 Rok Derzanic (Slovenia) 10.76 / 915; 3 Mantas Silkauskas (Lithuania) 10.83 / 899. Awde said: “I’m happy with that – leading by example!”

In the long jump Awde went out to 7.06m for 828 points. It left him placed sixth after two events on 1722 points. Derzanic led with 1750 points. “It’s my second best jump ever,” Awde was delighted to report.

In the shot, Awde’s best of 12.07m earned him 693 points. So he was ninth after three events with 2333 points, 270 behind leader Matthias Prey (Germany), who put the shot 16.26m for 867 points. “It’s my fault; I have to learn to deal with it,” said Awde.

In the high jump, he cleared 1.89m for 705 points to lie in 11^th position overall with 3038 points 114 behind leader Prey. Awde said: “I’m on top of the world. I’ve been having real problems with my ankles so I’m delighted.”

To close the first day, Awde with the fastest time of all in the 400m. He clocked 48.16 seconds for 901 points, and said: “I absolutely hate lane eight. I’m pleased with that.”

It meant he reached halfway in the competition with 3939 points for fourth place behind: 1 Prey 4077; 2 Derzanic 4071; 3 Eliasson 4007. “I’m really happy with today,” Awde concluded.