BIRMINGHAM, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Britain leapt to the top of the medal table with two gold medals in front of an ecstatic full house in Birmingham's National Arena on Saturday, the second day on the on-going European Indoor Championships.

Phillips Idowu led a British one-two in a high-quality triple jump competition where he leapt 17.56m - the longest jump in the world this year - with his first attempt to hold off Nathan Douglas whose 17.47m was a personal best.

Idowu's mark beat his indoor best by 36cm and was a new championship record.

It was a particularly impressive display given that the 28-year-old was suffering with a bruised heel.

He had not been able to jump in training for two weeks before Friday's qualifying round.

"I bruised a heel in Glasgow in January then I aggravated it atthe trials and I'm still in pain," he said. "I'm still in pain butin great shape."

Nicola Sanders delivered on her undoubted potential by setting a new national and Commonwealth record en route to an emphatic victory in the women's 400m final.

Sanders, who was drawn in the outside lane, ran a blistering 23.31 seconds for the first 200m and managed to keep up the pace to clock a time of 50.02.

The 24-year-old finished nearly a second clear of silver medallist Ilona Usovich of Belarus.

Her time was the fastest in the world this year and beat Katharine Merry's previous record set six years ago.

In the men's equivalent, David Gillick confirmed his status as European number one by winning a bruising encounter in 45.52.

The time sliced nearly half a second from the Irish indoor record for the distance and was the fastest by a European this year, much to the noisy delight of a sizable contingent of Irish athletics fans massed in one corner of the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.

Germany's Bastian Swillims went out very hard over the first 200m, clocking a very fast 21.17 for the first lap.

Sweden's Johan Wissman was in the bronze medal position for 399m but was just edged out of a medal right at the line by Britain's Robin Tobin.

In the women's High Jump, Belgium's Tia Hellebaut consigned the19 year-old championship record of Bulgaria's Stefka Kostadinova to history when she cleared 2.05m.

Italy's Antonietta Di Martino took the silver medal with a first time clearance at 1.96m and Bulgaria's Venelina Veneva, the world leader before the competition with 2.02m was a bitterly disappointed third after going over the same height with her second attempt.

Lidia Chojecka fulfilled her status as the fastest European over 1,500m by running away with the title in 4:05.13.

In silver was Russia's Natalya Pantalyeva in a PB 4:06.14, closely followed by team-mate Olesya Chumackova.

Portugal's Naide Gomes made it two in a row in spectacular fashion going out to a world leading 6.89 in round five to ram home her superiority.

Three of her four valid jumps would have given her gold and her fourth equalled the silver medal performance by Spain's Concha Montaner. Gomes' winning leap was also a national record.

2004 world junior champion, Czech Denisa Szerbova, 20, clinched bronze in the same round with a national record 6.64m.

German Danny Ecker captured his first major title in a below-par final to match the achievements of his mother, Heide Rosendahl, by becoming a European Indoor champion.

Ecker, his compatriot Bjorn Otto, the European No. 1, and Ukrainian Oleksandr Korchmid all cleared 5.51m at the first time of asking and compatriot Denys Yurchenko and two-time former champion Tim Lobinger also progressed but after failed attempts.

But Ecker took control of the competition by clearing 5.71m at the first time of asking while Yurchenko needed two attempts and Otto three to be successful.

In the men's high Jump qualification, Sweden's Stefan Holm, Poland's Aleksander Walerianczyk, the Czech Republic's Tomas Jankuand Great Britain's Martyn Bernard all went over the automatic qualifying height of 2.30m.

In the women's Pole Vault qualifiers, pre-event favourite Svetlana Feofanova endured a fraught qualification session but progressed to the final. The 2002 European indoor champion was on the verge of possible elimination after two failures at 4.50m but the Russian kept her composure to negotiate the height at the third time of asking.

Feofanova's Russian team-mate Yuliya Golubchikova also qualified automatically, clearing 4.55m on her third attempts after a hitherto flawless record.

In pool B, 4.50m was enough for five women to progress with French record-holder Vanessa Boslak and Poland's Olympic bronze medallist Anna Rogowska boasting a 100 per cent clearance record.

World indoor bronze medallist Olga Ryabinkina made Sunday's final with a single heave of 18.21m in the first round.

She was followed by her team-mate, Anna Omarova, runner-up in the Russian championships, who just failed to make the automatic 18m-mark with 17.96m.

Yulia Leantsiuk became the second automatic qualifier in round two with 18.01m. Leantsiuk, unbeaten this winter, was European junior silver medallist in 2003.

Greece's Louis Tsatoumas and France's Salim Sdiri were the onlylong jumpers to equal or exceed the automatic qualification distance of 8.00m. Tsatoumas led the way with 8.09m - his first effort in the second pool.

Italy's Andrew Howe, the reigning European outdoor champion, is clearly not at his best in the morning though. He could only manage 7.81m, scraping into Sunday's final as the eighth and last qualifier.