Bulgaria's Ivet Lalova, who triumphed in the 100 m sprint at the European Championship in Helsinki on Thursday, made it easily to the 200 semifinals the next day.

The Bulgarian finished third after clocking 23.58 for the 200, which had the first heats on Friday.

The 28-year-old Bulgarian sprinter ran the 100m in 11.28 seconds, leaving behind Ukraine's Olesya Povh (11.32) and Lithuania's Lina Grincikaite.

Lalova, widely known as the fastest white woman, has obviously come back to her glory days before she broke her leg in a freak accident and underwent seven operations.

Ivet Lalova has staged an excellent performance in Helsinki so far, qualifying for Wednesday's semi-finals with a season's best 11.06 and then winning the semi-finals in 11.23.