Europe celebrated three more golds – taking the total to 18 overall for the championships – on a fabulous final day at the IAAF World Championships London 2017.
France’s near-legendary Yohann Diniz got the ball rolling with victory in the 50km race walk, which started at 7.45am local time, and Great Britain’s men won 4x400m bronze in the final event, which brought to an end a superb championships for European athletes.
The success on this last day also included a world record and a moment in history for Portugal’s Ines Henriques who broke her own 50km race walk world record as she became the first champion of this event while Croatia’s Sandra Perkovic regained the world discus crown she won in Moscow in 2013.
Despite his brilliance and three European titles, Diniz had never before won a global title but he put that record straight with a commanding performance in The Mall.
He led all the way to triumph in a championship record of 3:33:12, the second best time ever and a truly convincing victory by more than eight minutes.
At 39, age does not seem to trouble the man who was such a star at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich in 2014 when he set the world record of 3:32:33.
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His World Championships win was also redemption in the British capital after having been disqualified at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
His victory may have been emphatic – the biggest margin in world championship history – it was not that easy.
“I started having doubts after 20km but in training, we have been doing lots of changes of rhythms, so I just kept going,” reflected Diniz. “I got a card around 20km too and I thought 'I just must not mess this up.' I just concentrated completely on my technique.
'A lot of training has gone into this, cycling, swimming, everything for this 50km walk. Last night I kept away from watching the TV (athletics) because I did not want to get too excited. I went to bed at 9pm because I knew it was going to be my day today. '
What a day it was, too, for Henriques as the championships staged the women’s 50km race walk for the first time.
Having set a world record time of 4:08:26 at home in Porto de Mos back in January, Henriques lowered it by nearly three minutes as she won in 4:05:56 and finished more than three minutes clear of her nearest rival after moving clear just after the halfway point.
“It is great that the 50km is at the world championships despite the fact that it is a really hard event,” said Henriques. “The last 5km were really tough. My goal was to go under four hours and six minutes, so I am really happy with this time.
“It felt like at home in London with so many Portuguese fans supporting me. I hope that in future we will see more women competing at this distance.”
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There was further medal success for Europe in the 20km race walks as Russia’s Sergei Shirobokov, competing as an Authorised Neutral Athlete, was second in the men’s race in 1:18:55, missing out on gold by just two seconds to Columbia’s Eider Arevalo; and in the women’s event, Italy won their first medal of the championships when Antonella Palmisano broke her personal best with 1:26:36 for third.
The discus dominance of Croatia’s Perkovic goes on as she won her eighth major senior title to repeat her glory in the London Stadium from five years earlier at the Olympic Games.
The two-time Olympic champion and four-time European champion is now a double world champion after winning with her second round throw of 70.31m.
France won bronze as Melina Robert-Michon, the 2016 Olympic silver medallist, made the podium again with a season’s best of 66.21m from her last throw.
Perkovic said: “I really enjoyed this competition like I never did before. I am happy to get my world title back. My goal was to throw over 70 metres because I was sure that would be a gold medal mark.
'I was confident in my power and in myself from the first attempt. I knew I had things to improve and I did it by trying to be quicker in the circle. That gave me the result.'
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Wherever you looked on this final night, there were medals for Europe, and it was a great occasion for Norway again as the country made the podium in the 1500m.
After the 400m hurdles golden glory of Karsten Warholm, Filip Ingebrigtsen followed his European 1500m gold from last summer with a superb bronze.
It’s highly likely that the pair will be big stars next year in Berlin 2018 at the European Athletics Championships, which along with Glasgow is staging the inaugural multi-sports European Championships.
Ingebrigtsen crossed the line third in 3:34.53, closing in all the time on the Kenyan pair of gold medallist Elijah Manangoi and his compatriot Timothy Cheruiyot.
It was a great race for Europe, as Ingebrigtsen held off the challenge of Spain’s Adel Mechaal (3:34.71) and Czech Republic’s Jakub Holusa (3:34.89) for the bronze medal.
Sifan Hassan, of the Netherlands, won the first global 5000m medal of her career as she came through strongly in the home straight for bronze.
Two years ago in Beijing she had finished third in the 1500m and now she was celebrating again with a time of 14:42.73 in a race won by Kenya’s Hellen Obiri in 14:34.86.
Russia’s Danyil Lysenko, competing as an Authorised Neutral Athlete, went over first time in the high jump at 2.32m, an effort which brought him silver as Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim won gold with 2.35m.
Lysenko could not match that but the second step of the podium was a fine result for him before the 4x400m relays brought further European success.
The USA won the women’s event in 3:19.02 as Britain took silver and Poland bronze.
The British quartet of Zoey Clark, Laviai Nielsen, Eilidh Doyle and Emily Diamond combined for a time of 3:25.00 with Poland’s team of Malgorzata Holub, Iga Baumgart, Aleksandra Gaworska and Justyna Swiety running a season’s best of 3:25.41.
In the final event of the championships, fittingly there was another medal for the host nation as Britain’s men of Matthew Hudson-Smith, Dwayne Cowan, Rabah Yousif and Martyn Rooney took bronze in 2:59.00 as Trinidad and Tobago won gold in 2:58.12.