Few events have been as spellbinding at the European Athletics Indoor Championships as the long jump and triple jump competitions.
Hosted since 1970, the biennial athletics event has been characterised by tales of British success and incredible recording breaking moments across Europe’s sandpits.
And with just over 200 days to go until Glasgow 2019 gets underway, what better way to build excitement than to take a look back at some of the best jumps in the competition’s history.
Ashia Hansen 1998
In 1998 British triple jumpers reigned supreme on the European Athletics Indoor Championship scene, with Jonathan Edwards and Ashia Hansen winning both the men’s and women’s competitions.
But it was Hansen’s incredible 15.16m leap that will go down in the annals of British athletics history by setting a new championship and world indoor record.
Starting with a solid 14.48m jump, Hansen steadily increased her distance every round – taking the lead ahead of Šárka Kašpárková with an impressive 14.69m leap.
Then with two jumps remaining, the two-time world indoor champion flew to 15.16m to claim gold and send the Valencian crowd wild.
Phillips Idowu 2007
Where better to continue the theme of British triple jump success than to look back at Phillips Idowu’s gold at the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham.
The Olympic silver medallist came into the tournament as the reigning Commonwealth Games gold medallist, and needed just one leap to set the pace and claim another career honour.
The former world champion hopped, skipped and jumped to 17.56m to set a new world leading distance and a new championship record in front of his home crowd.
Ivana Španović 2017
After being named European Athletics Indoor champion in 2015, Olympic bronze medallist Ivana Španović arrived at her home championships in Belgrade hoping to defend her long jump crown.
Setting a new world leading distance of 7.03m in qualifying, Španović revelled in front of the partisan crowd, jumping to 7.16m and 7.17m in the finals.
But the 2018 world indoor champion went even further, clinching gold and a new national record by jumping 7.24m – a massive 0.27m ahead of second-placed British athlete Lorraine Ugen.
Teddy Tamgho 2011
At the 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships, Italian Fabrizio Donato set a new championship and national record in front of his home Turin crowd.
Inspired by Donato’s success, Frenchman Teddy Tamgho arrived at the 2011 Paris event seeking to go one step further.
In his home city, the 2013 world champion triple jumper launched an almighty 17.91m to claim gold ahead of Donato and set a new indoor world record distance, which is still yet to be bettered.
Darya Klishina 2013
Darya Klishina is one of the most successful female long jumpers on the international circuit and began her dominance of the European Athletics Indoor Championships back in 2011.
The 27-year-old Russian long jumper earned her first European success back in Paris by beating Portuguese Naide Gomes by only 0.01m to top the leaderboards.
And two years later, the 2017 World Championship silver medallist held off competition from Éloyse Lesueur and Erica Jarder to win a second European Athletics Indoor Championships gold with a world leading leap of 7.01m.