These are early days in the outdoor season but first impressions always count.
It is why the rest of the women’s sprinting world will take notice of Dafne Schippers who's already back to her winning ways.
Last year Schippers was the sensation of the summer, winning the 100m and 200m at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich after putting her heptathlon plans on hold.
The Dutch star took that success into the winter with 60m gold at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Prague and she has quickly found her groove again over the 100m.
Running in Claremont in the USA over the weekend, Schippers took victory in 10.90 (+3.9) as she beat Jamaica’s Simone Facey, who was second in 11.04, with Tatjana Pinto, of Germany third, in 11.07.
There are many races and many twists ahead over the next few months but Schippers, the female European Athlete of the Year, already looks like she is ready to make her mark again.
She was not alone, either, as a European champion moving to the top of the world rankings in Claremont as Great Britain’s Tiffany Porter, who won 100m hurdles gold in Zurich in 12.66, triumphed in 12.56.
Tiffany Porter 12,56 in Clermont. #NTC #Clermont #hurdles #yleisurheilu pic.twitter.com/xdLL00PTud
— Jussi Ihamí¤ki (@jussiihamaki) April 19, 2015
It was a good meeting, too, for Porter's teammate Jack Green, who has returned to the sport after a two-year absence. He won the 400m hurdles in 50.23.
Staying in the USA, in Walnut on Saturday, Greece’s Ekaterina Stefandi, who won silver in Zurich, cleared 4.50m to take this spring pole vault event.
Moving to the roads and it had been 12 years since Poland’s Monika Stefanowicz had run a personal best but she set a new quickest time as she won the Lodz Marathon on Sunday in 2:29:28. Her victory secured her the national title with fellow Pole Agnieszka Mierzejewska second in 2:30:55.
In Zurich, Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig, the Olympic triathlon champion from London 2012, was second in the city’s marathon in 2:46:09 as Japan’s Yoshiko Sakamoto won in 2:37:47.