Laura Muir set Glasgow alight with a dominant display to take women's 3000m gold on a superb opening night for Great Britain at the European Indoor Championships.
The Scottish athlete was locked in an intense battle with Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen before kicking for home in front of a raucous crowd to finish four seconds clear and set a new championship record.
Melissa Courtney won bronze in a new personal best but she was eight seconds behind Muir, who claimed a third European Indoor title following her double success in Belgrade two years ago.
And the double double is a possibility after she progressed in the 1500m earlier in the night.
“I just knew, I cannot lose it here. This is my home turf, my home track and I thought I could not go away without gold today and so I am so happy,” she said.
“It was tough. I just tried to hang on in the early parts and then trust my kick. I knew I had that in my armoury so I used it as best I could.
“I was a bit worried because the 1500m heat was fast. It was hard work to get into recovery and then settle back down again. I am here for the double so I am delighted to get that done.”
On a fine night for GB’s women, Katarina Johnson-Thompson led a home 1-2 in the pentathlon – missing out on a new world record by just 13 points.
The 26-year-old dominated the competition from start to finish and entered the final 800m knowing that gold was virtually hers.
But she went out hard, knowing she needed to clock 2m0.7s to break the world record and only missed out by two seconds at the end of a frantic race.
Niamh Emerson, the world junior heptathlon champion, won silver and set a new personal best of 4731 points – the highest ever pentathlon score by a teenager.
“It is really amazing. I don’t think I could ask for much more, but I felt I could have done better in the long jump,” Johnson-Thompson said.
“Still, it was all at a very high level so I am very happy with my performance. It is my second best-ever score so I am very happy to come away with the gold.”
Sportsbeat 2019