In the end the most stunning performance from a British sprinter at the World Indoor Championships did not come from Dwain Chambers. Jeanette Kwayke, the Chingford flier, produced a wonderful display to smash a 22-year-old British record for the 60 metres and take the team’s first silver medal of the day.

Kelly Sotherton and Chambers followed suit to cap a day that will have been bittersweet for the UK Athletics hierarchy and those selectors who picked Chambers under the threat of legal action.

Kwayke almost won gold, but she recorded 7.08sec to finish just behind Angela Williams, of the United States. It is a long time since British women have bothered the scorers on the international stage, but Kwayke’s success suggests she is a genuine prospect for the London Olympic Games in 2012 when she believes she will be at her peak. “I had to stop myself from crying,” she said. “I watched the tape and did not know that I was in the lead. It’s amazing.”

Meanwhile, Sotherton missed out on gold by a matter of centimetres in the pentathlon. Three in fact. Had she not had what she termed a “poor” high jump and managed only 1.81 metres, she would not have ended up a mere 15 points adrift of the bespectacled Belgian, Tia Hellebaut.

“You’ve got to keep smiling,” she said. “I thought we’d win five or six medals here so to get three silvers in ten minutes is fantastic. I’ve just done a PB in the 800 metres, equalled my PB in the shot and had a season’s best in the long jump.”

Sotherton started in impressive style and won the 60 metres hurdles in a time of 8.25sec. Lyudmila Blonska, the Ukrainian she labelled “a cheat” at last year’s World Championships, was a tardy fourth and ended up receiving medical treatment when she collapsed at the end of the 800 metres.

However, there was plenty of pressure from other avenues. Hellebaut, the European indoor and outdoor high jump champion, led after two events after leaping 1.99 metres, while Sotherton, who has a personal best of 1.88, struggled and dropped to third.

Hellebaut maintained her lead after the shot, with Sotherton dropping to fifth despite equalling her personal best of 14.57 metres. As someone considering a post-heptathlon career as a long jumper, that was always going to be an event for Sotherton to make up ground and she did not waste it, opening — after two no-jumps — with 6.45 metres to win the event and move into second place going into the 800 metres.

It proved a bridge too far, although one more second on the Belgian, who staggered over the line, would have seen her home. It means that she again encountered the nearest of misses, having finished second to Carolina Klüft in the European indoors last year by 17 points.

There were some impressive performances elsewhere from the British. Chris Tomlinson made short work of qualifying for tonight’s long jump final, his first effort of 7.95 metres being enough, while Helen Clitheroe, Lisa Dobriskey and Mo Farah made it through the heats in the 3,000 metres. Simeon Williamson will also feel that he achieved what he needed to by making the final of the 60 metres.

There were some disappointments, too. Marilyn Okoro failed to make the 800 metres final, but Jenny Meadows looked in good shape, running the second-fastest time, some four seconds faster than Maria Mutola, seeking her eighth world indoor title.