Christian Malcolm, Marlon Devonish and Tim Benjamin gave Britain's beleaguered team a welcome boost on the fourth day of competition at the World Championships.

All sprinters advanced to the next round, Newport's Malcolm and Devenish in the 200 metres and Benjamin the 400m.

Malcolm looked particularly good given his late arrival in Helsinki after getting treatment on a pelvic injury.

The 26-year-old won his heat in 20.36 seconds on a blustery morning in the Olympic Stadium, the smile on his face as he eased across the line telling its own story.

Devonish, who missed out on a place in the 100m final, was less impressive but came through in the last 50 metres to qualify automatically in third place in 20.75secs.

Benjamin, from Cardiff, took first place in his 400m heat in the second fastest time of his career.

After the first three days of competition, only one British athlete had actually qualified for a final, Blackpool's Carl Myerscough who qualified in last place and finished last in the shot.

"Everything is back on line, now I'm going to sleep, sleep, sleep," said Malcolm, the seventh fastest man in the world this year. "I had a restless night last night, tossing and turning.

"I feel okay, that has given me confidence. I've had good mental preparation as well as the physical side so I'm not going to put a limit on what I can do.

"I just have to take it step by step like I did in Edmonton (he finished fifth in 2001)."

Devonish, a member of Britain's gold medal-winning 4x100m relay team in the Olympics, admitted he had been happy just to qualify, adding: "I was not busting a gut. I wanted to conserve energy, just get into the top three."

Robert Tobin also got through in the 400m, coming second behind Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner. There was not such good news in the javelin however, Nick Nieland finishing just eighth in the first qualifying pool.

Only the top 12 from the two pools qualify for the final and Nieland knew he had virtually no chance.