Sport in brief

Athletics Andy Butchart maintained his sparkling form with second place in the Vitality Westminster Mile,

The Perthshire prospect, who smashed the Scottish 5000m record seven days earlier, was just edged out by Nick Goolab on the line with both clocking 4:01.

Butchart will now aim for a double bonus in today’s Westminster 10k. “I know it’s going to be a hard race but it’s going to be fun for me, just to get that different feel,” he said. “But I’m going to run hard as well. I can’t ever take it easy. But it’s also a warm-up for the Diamond League in Birmingham so I want to do well.”

Fellow Scot Jo Moultrie was second to Sarah McDonald in the women’s Mile. Gymnastics Dan Purvis missed out on an individual medal at the European Championships in Bern, finishing eighth in the floor final – 24 hours after helping the UK to silver in the team event,

The Scot, building up for his quest for a second Olympic medal, faltered on his landings to get a score of 14.633, two places behind team-mate Kristian Thomas.

A slip cost London 2012 silver medallist Louis Smith a podium spot on the pommel as he ended fourth but Nile Wilson struck gold on the high bar with Thomas making it a British 1-2. Mountain biking Peebles mountain biker Grant Ferguson was unhurt and already looking forward to next weekend’s race in Fort William after crashing on the final lap and failing to finish yesterday’s World Cup cross-country event in La Bresse, France,

The 22-year-old might have feared the worst if he was superstitious as he wore number 13, his position in the overall World Cup rankings after finishing 17th in Australia last month and 15th in Germany last week.

Up front, Olympic champion and local legend Julien Absalon led a French 1-2-3 after coming home a full minute clear of his rivals in one hour 26mins 38secs.