Seamus Derbyshire is glad he finally showed that he belongs to the big stage that is the European Championships in Munich, following the 400m hurdles semifinals.

The Stoke hurdler finished fourth in his semifinal heat with a time of 49.63s, just behind European bronze medalist Thomas Barr of Ireland, which was only good enough for 15th in the overall standings.

He said: “I think I did a lot better than I did yesterday in the heats, which was what I wanted to.

“If I did that mistake again, I would have had too much ground to pick up. I was really happy with how I set it up,

“I just tried to work off Tom on the home straight, so I finished strong again.”

These championships marked the senior Team GB debut for Derbyshire who enjoyed a stellar junior career which included a silver European U20 medal back in 2019.

“This was a super positive experience. It showed me I can compete with these guys," he added.

“The guys that I have been looking up to for years. I'm like, you're one of them now.

“It's so nice to like be on this stage and feel like I belong here. I'm not just here to make up the numbers.”

The 22-year-old star was not the only Brit of the semis as 2019 British champion Jacob Paul finished 10th just missing out on the final with a time of 49.48s.

Derbyshire raced in the first semi-final heat and was provisionally in the final as a fastest loser and experienced the controversial “hot seats” concept.

"Hot seats" were first presented in the previous European championships in Berlin and have been criticised by athletes such as Dina Asher-Smith and Ojie Edoburun in previous years.

However, Derbyshire saw this concept from a different angle.

“I actually enjoyed being in the hot seat," said Derbyshire.

“To be in the hot seat means like you probably overperformed your ranking.

“So for me to be in the hot seat, even in contention for top eight, I was like, I must have run pretty well. So yeah, I didn't mind it.”

Derbyshire will likely continue his season since as he said he promised his coach that he was going to race an 800m race after Munich.

However, Derbyshire has now established himself as one of Europe’s elite hurdlers and will be targeting more major competitions in the future.

The multi-sport European Championships Munich 2022, featuring Athletics, Beach Volleyball, Canoe Sprint, Cycling, Gymnastics, Table Tennis, Triathlon, Rowing, Sport Climbing, takes place 11th-21st August on the 50th anniversary of the Olympics Games in the German city. Watch daily live coverage across BBC One, Two, Red Button, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website