Switzerland's Ditaji Kambundji broke the 17-year-old European 60m hurdles record to win a sensational gold medal in a time of 7.67 at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn on Friday (7).
In doing so, the 22-year-old European 100m hurdles silver medallist won her first senior international title and denied Dutch home favourite Nadine Visser's bid to win a third gold in the event.
Kambundji narrowly bettered the 7.68 record that was set by Sweden's Susanna Kallur in Karlsruhe in 2008, an athlete who won the European indoor title in both 2005 and 2007.
Visser had to settle for the respectable feat of winning a medal at four consecutive editions of the championships, as Poland's Pia Skrzyszowska - who beat Kambundji outdoors in Rome last summer - took the bronze in 7.83.
After a fairly even start, the Swiss athlete looked determined as she attacked each barrier to pull clear, meaning Visser could only dip in hope as she improved on her own national record with a still-brilliant time of 7.72.
That meant that both athletes were inside the old championship record, with Ludmila Engquist's clocking of 7.74 from Glasgow 1990 for the Soviet Union finally being usurped.
Szymanski's first title follows the form book
Jakub Szymanski delivered superbly on the promise that he had shown coming into Apeldoorn, as the European leader narrowly pipped 2021 champion Wilhem Belocian to take his first major championship title in a time of 7.41.
Szymanski arrived in red hot form, having gone second on the European all-time list with a 7.39 clocking in Lodz a month ago, and he appeared unfazed as France's Belocian ramped up the pressure by taking an early lead.
The Polish athlete was full of belief as he drove his knees up high and achieved beautifully clean flight over the hurdles. Crucially, he got his head just in front of the lurking navy vest as the pair dipped for the line.
The winning margin was only 0.02, with Just Kwaou-Mathey making it a double French podium in a time of 7.50, thanks to showing off the longest lean of the field as the line approached.
Kwaou-Mathey matched his achievement from Istanbul 2023, with Szymanski going one better. The Pole had been the runner-up behind Jason Joseph last time out, but the Swiss hurdler didn't make it past the semifinal stage in Apeldoorn.
Exciting heptathlon fight keeping everyone on edge
Norway's Sander Skotheim turned the tables in the heptathlon with a magnificent high jump clearance of 2.19 to equal the championship best mark he set two years ago in Istanbul.
As a result, he leads overnight by 42 points after four events, having previously been 155 points and two places behind the previous leader, Switzerland's Simon Ehammer.
The Norwegian was expected to maximise an event in which his personal best is 12 centimetres higher than his rival, but finishing 21 centimetres - and 197 points - better off than Ehammer's 1.98 best could be significant, with just the 60m hurdles, pole vault and 1000m left.
The pair seemed to thrive off the head-to-head fight. Ehammer showed off his beaming smile as he cleared 1.98m at the third time of asking, having waited for Skotheim to enter and casually succeed immediately at the same height.
Yet the world indoor champion soon had a rueful look as he was unable to conquer 2.01m, matching the 1.98 performance of Germany's Till Steinforth, who continued his solid run in the competition but dropped to third, 129 points off the lead.
European decathlon champion Johannes Erm of Estonia stays fifth after a solid 2.01m performance, but Belgium's Jente Hautekeette is now one place ahead of him, after sailing over the bar at 2.07m. Skotheim then cut a lonely figure as he expertly ticked off four more clearances.
Ehammer is expected to roar back in the 60m hurdles, in which his 7.55 personal best is worth 99 points more than Skotheim. But the Norwegian is the better vaulter and he is also nearly 13 seconds faster over the concluding 1000m.
While there are still many twists and turns to come, it is worth knowing that Skotheim's current score of 3689 points is 62 up on the first day of his recent European record performance in Tallinn. Adding his scores in Estonia to what he currently has in Apeldoorn would produce an impressive theoretical score of 6546.
There also remains a chance that he could threaten the world record of 6645 points that has been held by the USA's Ashton Eaton since 2012, should he continue to be at his very best.
Show of authority from 400m Dutch home favourite
Lieke Klaver delivered all that the Dutch supporters could have asked of her with a remarkably dominant 400m semifinal victory that set her up as the favourite for Saturday night's final.
The best part of the home straight separated the 26-year-old from the squabble for the final two automatic qualifying places as Klaver - cheered on by compatriot Femke Bol - sped home in a time of 51.15.
As someone who has previously succumbed to fatigue in the closing stages of a 400m race, she put those suggestions to bed with a fabulous show of speed endurance.
Hungary's Attila Molnar extended his unbeaten run to six races this year, clocking the fastest ever men's 400m semifinal time at a European Athletics Indoor Championships.
The 23-year-old made his race look effortless as he powered around the lap in a smooth and controlled fashion, coming to the line in 45.48.
That quick pace allowed the recently-crowned French champion Jimy Soudril to set an outright personal best of 45.99. A third man who won a heat this morning, Portugal's Joao Coelho, was just 0.03 behind in third place.
Moments later, Poland's Maksymilian Szwed looked as though even he was a little surprised by how comfortably he secured qualification through to the final. Spain's Inaki Canal and Dutchman Isiah Klein Ikkink looked like they were queuing up to drive past the Polish athlete, but he held on, clocking 45.79 as all three progressed.
Alex Seftel for European Athletics