Huskies' James Alaka wins semifinal race at European U-23 Championships...

OSTRAVA, Czech Republic--Reigning Pac-10 sprint champion James Alaka (finish photo courtesy Omega/Ostrava LOC) of Great Britain and the University of Washington advanced to the finals in the men's 100 meter dash at the European Under-23 Championships at Vítkovice City Stadium Thursday afternoon.

Under cloudy conditions on the damp track that was hit by a downpour after the morning session concluded, Alaka, sporting his trade mark sunglasses, got out well, taking over the lead shortly after the 50 meter mark, then cruised on through the finish line when realizing that he'd secured one of the two automatic qualifying places for Friday night's final, winning in 10.49, with Italy's Delmas Obou finishing second at 10.57.

Though it appeared on the screen that he had a solid start, Alaka wasn't exactly pleased with it.

“That’s my main problem,” he said, “my start isn’t great then it really comes together,” he told UK Athletics in the mixed zone afterwards.

The native of London will face countryman Andrew Robertson, who ran 10.54 in his heat, and earned the final spot in Friday's final, along with Italy's Michael Tumi, who ran the fastest qualifying time of the day at 10.48.

Friday's finals will be contested at 4:25 pm, local time (7:25 am, Seattle time), and will be shown live online via european-athletics.org.

The link to the timetable and results from the European Under-23 Championships is available here.