DWAIN CHAMBERS underlined his status as favourite for the 100 metres at the European Championships with a commanding performance in last night’s heats.

Chambers, who won the title in 2002 but had to hand back his gold medal following his positive drugs test the following year, stormed to victory in 10.21 seconds in Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium.

The 32-year-old was quickly out of his blocks and led all the way into a headwind of 1.5 metres per second, easing down 15m before the line but still winning by 0.25secs from France’s Ronald Pognon.

That secured his place in today’s semi-final, with the final taking place just under two hours later.

‘‘It was comfortable,’’ Chambers said.

‘‘It was a bit nerve-wracking to begin with as it always is for me. Getting the heats out the way is always tough and with the one false start rule I am not taking any chances.’’ France’s Christophe Lemaitre, Chambers’ main rival for the gold medal and fastest in Europe this year, was the quickest qualifier, winning the final heat in 10.19 ahead of Britain’s Mark Lewis-Francis.

Lewis-Francis, an Olympic gold medal winner in the 4x100m relay in Athens, was quickest out of the blocks and led up to halfway before Lemaitre powered past.

Britain’s James Dasaolu also advanced to the semi-finals after finishing third in his heat in 10.40.

Meanwhile, David Gillick got his bid for the European 400 metres title off to a solid start.

The 27-year-old won his heat comfortably in 45.84 seconds to qualify fifth-fastest for the semi-finals tonight.

Jason Smyth, a two-time Paralympic champion who is aiming to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics and thus become the first track athlete to compete at both Games in the same year, made it through to the semi-finals of the 100m, finishing fourth in his heat in 10.43.

But Robert Heffernan narrowly missed out on a medal in the 20 kilometre walk, finishing fourth in a time of one hour 21 minutes exactly, just 11 seconds behind bronze medallist Joao Vieira of Portugal.

Gordon Kennedy joined Gillick in the semi-finals as a fastest loser in a time of 46.63secs, but Brian Gregan missed out.

‘‘I just wanted to get the first round out of the way,’’ said Gillick.

‘‘I did what I needed to do, I got out, stayed relaxed and picked it up a little bit down the back straight, but on the bend then began to see where I was and coming into the home straight I had a look just to make sure I stayed ahead and make sure I won.’’ Gillick’s chief rivals for the gold medal, Belgian Jonathan Borlee and Briton Martyn Rooney, also qualified comfortably.

And Gillick knows the semifinal is going to be far tougher.

He added: ‘‘In the semi-finals you can’t wait around, you can’t look at anyone else, you’ve just got to put the blinkers on and off you go.’’ Smyth, who is partially sighted, said: ‘‘At the Paralympics you’re number one, you’re expected to win which is nice, going there knowing you’re supposed to win and could potentially go home with gold. But here the competition’s a lot harder. You get away with very little.”