Some of the established names of the sport will be vying for more honours at the Glasgow 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships but the championships have traditionally been used as a launchpad for some of the budding talents of the sport.
We have taken a look at five greats of athletics who made their breakthroughs on the boards at the European Indoor Championships.
Sebastian Coe, San Sebastian 1977
The setting was San Sebastian, the date was March 13 and the final of the men’s 800m was the birth of a legend. In control of the race, Great Britain’s Sebastian Coe, then just 20, reached halfway in 51.4 before storming away to win in a then-championship record of 1:46.54 and bank the first gold medal of what would become an incredible career.
His victory on this day in Spain saw Coe beat East Germany’s Erwin Gohlke, second in 1:47.2, and Switzerland’s Rolf Gysin, third in 1.47.6, for the springboard to a career which brought multiple world records and double Olympic gold at the 1500m.
He had been the quickest in qualifying with 1:48.2 and raised his game for a final in a career where he won four European outdoor medals, including 800m gold in Stuttgart in 1986.
Marie-Jose Perec, The Hague 1989
One of the supreme stars in athletics, the French sprinting phenomenon is just one of two women in history to win a 200/400m double at the Olympic Games along with being a world and European champion over 400m.
But the first occasion on a senior stage that Perec made that climb to the top of the podium was in the Netherlands some three decades ago when she won 200m gold at the European Indoor Championships.
The event might not be part of the programme anymore but the impact it had on her career was immense, soaring to victory in 23.21 from Switzerland’s Regula Aebi in 23.38 and Austria’s Sabine Troger in 23.70.
Like Coe, she was also 20 at the time but global honours quickly followed for the Guadeloupe-born superstar who dominated the 400m in the early-to-mid 1990s.
Erki Nool, Stockholm 1996
Estonia’s Erki Nool, 26, had just finished fourth at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg but then came his moment in Stockholm the following winter.
Nool’s consistency was such that he did not have the best mark in any of the seven events of the heptathlon but triumphed with a score of 6188 from Czech Republic’s future decathlon world record-holder Tomas Dvorak with 6114.
Now he had arrived on the big stage and there was no stopping a man who developed into Estonia’s greatest track and field athlete.
From his glory in Stockholm, eight more major medals followed over the next six years, including the European decathlon title in 1998 and the Olympic title two years later.
His final appearance in an Estonian vest came appropriately at the European Indoor Championships some nine years later, finishing 12th in the heptathlon in Madrid in 2005 at the age of 34.
Jimmy Vicaut, Gothenburg 2013
Sweden was again the stage for a breakthrough performance. This time it was Gothenburg in 2013 when a sprinter created a piece of French history at the European Indoor Championships.
Jimmy Vicaut, 21, was no stranger to medals ever since winning gold as part of the 4x100m relay as an 18-year-old at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona. Now came his chance to deliver individually and he produced the greatest indoor run of his life.
It was a thrilling final in which Vicaut, from lane six, powered all the way to beat James Dasaolu by the slimmest of margins. They were both given the identical time of 6.48 with Italy’s Michael Tumi third in 6.52.
It remains the quickest Vicaut has ever run at the distance as he became the first Frenchman to win the men’s European 60m title.
Laura Muir, Belgrade 2017
Dealing with expectation can be tricky but in Belgrade two years ago, there was pressure on the shoulders of Laura Muir as she entered the 1500m and 3000m as one of the leading favourites in both.
But the 23-year-old just put her head down and delivered to announce herself on the athletics stage in spectacular fashion just a few months after fading out of medal contention in the 1500m final at the Olympic Games.
It was some double to go for as she had to run both distances in the same day as the championships opened on 3 March. The heats of the 3000m were at 12.15pm, with Muir finishing fifth to qualify on time before winning her 1500m heat less than five hours later.
Muir duly stamped her authority all over both finals, first by winning the 1500m title in a championship record of 4:02.39 before winning her second title and setting her second championship record in the 3000m with 8:35.67.
Having been criticised in some circles for her tactics at both the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2016 Olympics, Muir made her golden breakthrough on the major championship stage and she will defend both the titles in Glasgow.