If Dina Asher-Smith wins a medal, or even gold, at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Prague next month, it would be some story.
The reason? Because the last the time she was on such a grand European stage, she suffered the worst possible heartbreak.
Great Britain’s Asher-Smith, 19, hurt herself during the 200m final at last summer’s European Athletics Championships in Zurich, pulling up on the bend with a troubled hamstring injury.
But she is now heading towards the Czech Republic after a brilliant weekend where she is joint top of the world 60m rankings after running 7.12 at the Karlsruhe Indoor Meeting, a time she shares with Dafne Schippers.
OMGG!!! Brand new 60m pb of 7.12 which doubles as an =World Lead!!! So shocked but so so so so so happy
— Dina Asher-Smith (@dinaashersmith) January 31, 2015
Dutch star Schippers, who won that 200m in Zurich to complete the sprint double, also ran 7.12 in Karlsruhe, personal best times which both women achieved in their heats.
Then Asher-Smith clocked the same mark in the final where Schippers false-started as the Briton showed that this could be the winter where she turns her junior success into senior triumph.
Watch the 60m final in Karlsruhe below:
[VIDEO src='1274992' align='right']
Indeed, she is no stranger to European glory. She is the defending 200m European Athletics Junior champion after winning in Rieti in 2013, where she was also part of the triumphant British 4x100m relay team.
Asher-Smith and Schippers were not the only European athletes who ran their fastest ever 60m indoors this weekend.
A time of 7.31 might be slightly slower than that pair yet for Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic, it was not only a national record but an impressive statement of the speed she is reaching as Prague beckons.
Not that it is likely to be on show in the 60m in the 02 Arena as Spanovic, the European silver and world bronze long jump medallist, will be chasing gold in the event where she has made her name.
But so much of the long jump is about what happens on the runway and if she is sprinting better than ever, she will fancy her chances of gold in March.
Back in Karlsruhe, France’s Dimitri Bascou twice ran 7.53 for the 60m hurdles to rubber-stamp his world lead while the Netherlands’ European 1500m champion Sifan Hassan had a quite a time over the seven-and-a-half laps.
Hassan won in 4:02.57 to record a European under-23 best, along with a national record and world lead, as she beat Ethiopia’s Axumawit Embaye, who was second in 4:02.92.
Renaud Lavillenie maintained his brilliant start to 2015 with a meeting record of 5.86m, missing out over 6.01m.
Watch part of his pole vault contest:
'20150131.karlsruhe.airLavillenie' : http://t.co/auQYNLZIgK via @YouTube
— Renaud LAVILLENIE (@airlavillenie) February 1, 2015
A year ago they could not be separated as they shared gold in the high jump at the IAAF World Indoor Championships but on Sunday in Moscow, Poland’s Kamila Licwinko had the upper hand over Mariya Kuchina in style.
Licwinko broke the national record as she set a world-leading mark of 2.01m to triumph ahead of Russian Kuchina who went over at 1.99m, with the pair showing their great form for what could be another superb competition in Prague.