The 34th edition of the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade certainly lived up to expectation, with 79 medals claimed over three days of action-packed competition.
The Serbian capital certainly put on a show as they hosted the event for the second time, helped of course by some incredible feats of athleticism.
And what better time to open up the archives and remind ourselves of some standout moments from the championships than on Throwback Thursday?
Magical Muir on-song
Before the Scot became the international powerhouse of middle distance running that she is today, Muir was a veterinary student at the University of Glasgow.
All that changed, however, after her performances in Belgrade.
Yes, she was already a British record-holder heading into the event but her breakneck time of 4:02.39 in the 1500m was enough to obliterate both her own national record and the championship record as she finished more than two seconds clear of closest rival Konstanze Klosterhalfen of Germany.
And she repeated the trick a day later, tearing home in the final stretch of the 3000m to break another championship record in a time of 8:35.67, a massive eight seconds clear of Turkey’s Yasemin Can in silver and 12 ahead of compatriot Eilish McColgan in bronze.
With that, she became only the second British athlete to win two European Indoor titles at the same event after Colin Jackson in 1994 and catapulted herself onto the world stage.
Home delight for Spanovic
Ivana Spanovic was Serbia’s main medal hope heading into the country’s home championships, with the Belgrade crowd counting on her to defend the long jump gold medal that she had won two years earlier in Prague.
She needed just one leap to qualify for the final in first, jumping 7.03m with her first attempt – at the time, a world lead.
But the final was when she truly kicked into gear as she proceeded to dominate the rest of the field.
Three times she jumped further than anyone else on the night, recording scores of 7.16m, 7.17m and the winning 7.24m, the last a whole 27cm ahead of Lorraine Ugen in silver.
Mayer in seventh heaven
Kevin Mayer treated the Belgrade fans to a masterclass in the heptathlon as he swept aside his competitors, setting a new European record in the process.
His 6579 points saw the Frenchman finish an incredible 252 points ahead of Spain’s Jorge Urena, showing unprecedented consistency across the seven events.
In fact, he failed to finish outside of the top three only once – coming fourth in the 1000m – and led the field from the second event.
And a near-perfect performance was capped when he broke Roman Sebrle’s European record by a clear 41 points.