French high jumper Mickael Hanany turns 31 on Tuesday - and this weekend he has given himself the best birthday present.
In El Paso, Texas, on Saturday, Hanany cleared 2.34m to break the national outdoor record that had stood for almost 20 years.
'I was ready for this record as I had tried three or four times last season,' said a delighted Hanany.
It was back on 10 July 1994, that Jean-Charles Gicquel, the 1994 European Athletics Indoor silver medallist, set the outdoor height of 2.33m, but Hanany has now not only broken it, but his performance is the best outdoors in the world this year.
Hanany is a graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso, where he is a former national champion, and in Helsinki in 2012, he won bronze at the European Athletics Championships when he jumped 2.28m as Great Britain's Robbie Grabarz won gold with 2.31m.
His personal best was 2.32m from 2010 but now he can move towards this summer's European Athletics Championships in Zurich with a new status to his name.
Hanany, speaking to elpasotimes.com, added: 'I have been working hard but I did not know if I was rested enough. I have tried to rest the last couple of weeks.
'This week I just did some explosive work. I knew I was ready physically but I just did not know if I was ready yet with my technique.'
The sun shone as Hanany achieved his record, but back on European soil, there was rain and wind for the 20th Acea Maratona di Roma on Sunday - and there were outstanding performances from Italy's athletes.
Ethiopians took both titles and as Geda Ayelu Lemma won the women's race in 2:34:49 with Morocco's Janat Hanane second 2:38:08, the host nation made the podium with Emma Quaglia finishing third in 2:43:24.
In the men's race, her teammate Domenico Ricatti broke his personal best by nine seconds as he finished fourth in 2:15:07 behind Shume Hailu Legese who won in 2:09:47.
San Sebastian was the stage for a Spanish indoor junior record as Cristina Lara won the girls 200m in 24.14 on the last day of the National Indoor Junior Championships while at the Greek Walking Championships in Megara, Alexandros Papamihail won the men's 20 km in 1:26:06 and Antigoni Drisbioti took the women's title in 1:35:38.
In Saxon, Rolf Rufenacht, in 30:04, and Fabienne Schlumpf, in 33:36, were crowned Swiss 10km champions.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Tuesday-Sunday - WMA Indoor Championships (Budapest).
Friday - Belarus Race Walking Cup (Brest).
Saturday - 14 Ultramaraton Montenegro (Podgorica), Belarus Race Walking Cup (Brest), IAAF World Half Marathon Championships (Copenhagen), Olomoucka dvactika (Olomouc), Spring Road Race (Minsk).
Sunday - Metodi Venovski-Meto (Skopje), Nova Sad Half Marathon (Nov-Sad), Osijek Half Marathon (Osijek), Russian Cup (Kislovodsk), Weir Minerals Venloop (Venlo).