Great Britain's Christine Ohuruogu after round 1 of the Women's 400m at the Olympic Stadium, London.

Stratford Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu booked her place in the Olympic 400m final with a fine semi-final run

Stratford’s very own sweetheart, Christine Ohuruogu, stormed into the Olympic final with a confident run to finish a close second in her semi-final.

The 28-year-old reigning Olympic 400m champion was given a tough semi-final assignment against her great rival Sanya Richards-Ross, but Ohuruogu is coming into form just at the right time and the Newham & Essex Beagle showed that right from the start.

After a cool qualification in Friday’s first round where she clocked 50.80 seconds, her confidence was high going into tonight’s semi-final.

And after an unusually good start which saw her keep pace in the first 300 metres with all but Richards-Ross, she stormed back on her great rival in the final straight to finish just behind the American and ease into the final.

Her time of 50.22 was her season’s best, though she will probably have to dip under

50 seconds for only the third time in her career if she wants to retain her title on Sunday night.