24th June 2013 08:24
But as they triumphed in the Super League in Gateshead with 354.5 points from Germany with 347.5, they achieved the success with athletes who could be around for a long time.
Russia won 10 events, which meant over a third of their points were achieved by this group which finished first.
But with the exception of Yekaterina Sharmina, in the 1500m, and Olga Golovkina, in the 5000m, the other eight athletes who finished first had a common theme: they were 23 years old or under.
Not that Sharmina and Golovkina are anywhere near the age of retirement just yet. They are both 26, but the Russian athletics federation must only delight in the fact they have so many outstanding competitors who have progressed to this level so young.
The European Athletics Team Championships can often throw up emotions that do not normally exist in this sport.
It is not about yourself. It is about knowing that what is going to happen in the next few seconds could have a knock-on effect for all those people who are relying on you to deliver.
Which makes the triumphs of high jumper Maria Kuchina and javelin thrower Dmitriy Tarabin even more noteworthy.
Not only did their victories arrive when Russia needed them most, in the final stages of this amazing competition where their leadership with Germany kept changing hands, but they both achieved personal bests - a sign of how they can handle the most intense pressure.
And this from Kuchina, 20, and Tarabin, 21, the youngest two members of the squad to win an event.
Kuchina is the reigning European junior champion after her victory with a height of 1.95m in Tallinn, which is a championship record. She now has a personal best height after 1.98m as the event in Gateshead was moved indoors because of the rain.
Tarabin, who was 10th at the World Championships in Daegu two years ago, has launched himself to third in Europe in 2013 with the 85.99m personal best that brought his win late in a competition where Russia needed the best out of him - and they got it.
But almost all their victories had an impressive edge to them.
In the 400m, Vladimir Krasnov, 22, won in 45.69, a season's best time when his nation needed it, while in the long jump, Alexander Menkov, 22, won with 8.36m, a championship record as he beat Great Britain's Olympic champion Greg Rutherford, a brilliant scalp.
The form of 110m hurdler Sergey Shubenkov, 22, remains at the highest level as he showed with his win in 13.19 while triple jumper Aleksey Fyodorov, 22, beat French star and world indoor record-holder Teddy Tamgho when he recorded a distance of 16.70m.
In the 3000m steeplechase, Natalya Aristarkhova, 23, won in 9:30.64 which was the quickest in Europe this year while 22-year-old Yelena Korobkina's win in the 3000m in 9:01.45 saw her beat Great Britain's Laura Weightman who tops the European Athletics rankings.
Yekaterina Sharmina's triumph in the 1500m left Britain's world championship silver medallist Hannah England trailing back in fifth as she won in 4:08.86 while in the 5000m, Olga Golovkina confirmed her position as arguably Europe's best runner at the distance after her win in 15:32.45. A year ago it was gold at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki.
But for these 10 winners in Gateshead, now their attention will turn to the World Championships in August in Moscow, and another outing where the pressure will be intense, this time in front of home support.
But as they have shown, when it matters, they know just what to do.