Phillips Idowu bounded into the final of the triple jump today with just one confident leap, raising hopes that Britain's track and field athletes may be ready to join the Olympic Games medal jamboree here in Beijing.

After a weekend spent watching the rest of Team GB scooping up medals like conkers, the track team, having seen disappointments for Kelly Sotherton (fifth in the heptathlon) and Paula Radcliffe (23rd in the marathon), have conspicuously failed to join the party.

Now their hopes will be resting primarily on two Londoners, Idowu and Stratford's Christine Ohuruogu, who is poised to challenge American Sanya Richards for gold in tomorrow's 400 metres final.

But Idowu, unbeaten all season, remains the No1 prospect and, despite his piercing-dotted face being racked with seeming anxiety before he jumped here today, he used a controlled run up, hit the board safely to record 17.44 metres, easily bettering the 17.10m qualifying mark and comfortably the best of any of the 12 qualifiers for Thursday's final.

Former champion Jonathan Edwards was impressed.

The 2000 winner said: "He was nowhere near flat out and there appears much more to come and I thought Phillips handled the pressure incredibly well today." Larry Achike also qualified with a 17.18m leap.

Croydon's dramatically improving quarter-miler Martyn Rooney booked his place in tomorrow's semis of the 400m, easing up to win his heat in 45.00sec. "I'll have to run close to the UK record (44.36sec) to make sure I get into the final," said the 21-year-old, who should make it on his current exciting form.

Better still, Mancunian Andrew Steele joined the sub-45secs club as well, his 44.94secs heat win earning a semi-final spot too. Andy Turner, second in heat one, and Allan Scott, third in the final heat, both made made it into round two of the 110m hurdles.

Radcliffe has insisted she is determined to run the marathon in London in 2012 after finishing in tears in Beijing yesterday.

The 34-year-old admitted lack of training after the stress fracture to her leg had cost her dear. But she added: "I'll be 38 in 2012 but the marathon is one event where you can keep going. Maybe one year I'll get some luck."