MUNICH -- Sprint trio Dwain Chambers, Darren Campbell and Jason Gardener began their quest to maintain Britain's stranglehold on the men's 100 meters title by easing through the first round heats at the European championships in Munich on Tuesday.

Britain has provided the gold medalist in the last four championships, dating back to when Linford Christie secured the first of his three titles in Stuttgart in 1986.

Chambers, restored to fitness after pulling up with cramp in the Commonwealth Games 100 meters final in Manchester, clocked the fastest time of the heats in easing to victory in 10.23 seconds.

"I'm still standing, don't worry," said Chambers, who is the quickest European sprinter this season and has twice beaten world-record holder Maurice Greene this year.

The defending European champion Campbell, who denied Chambers gold in Budapest four years ago, finished second in his heat behind Greece's Georgios Theodoridis, while Gardener ran a fine race to clock 10.29 in chasing home Hungary's Roland Nemeth, Reuters reported.

Another of Britain's top sprinters, Mark Lewis-Francis, is not competing in these championships after the 19-year-old tore a hamstring in Manchester.

Nigerian-born Francis Obikwelu, who competes for Portugal and has clocked 10.09 this season to put him among the medal favorites, won heat two in 10.38 seconds to comfortably progress.