From Sebastian Bayer’s Beamon-esque jump at the 2009 European Indoor Championships in Turin to Nelli Cooman’s world indoor record at the 1986 European Indoor Championships in Madrid, we remember five record-breaking performances from European Indoor Championships history.
Sebastian Bayer, Turin 2009
Bayer had been making steady progress since graduating into the senior ranks in 2006 but the German was all of a sudden one of the hottest commodities in German athletics courtesy of one single jump in Turin.
That jump was a remarkable European record of 8.71m which came in the sixth round of the European Indoor Championships. Not many were in the stadium to witness it as the track action had already come to a close but that performance remains second only to Carl Lewis’ world indoor record.
“Honestly I cannot tell you how I did it,” said Bayer. “I hit the board very well with some perfectly shorter strides before taking off. The jump felt simply perfect. When I landed I knew it was a long one, but I had hoped for may be 8.30 or perhaps 8.40 metres. When 8.71m flashed up at the scoreboard I was speechless.”
Kevin Mayer, Belgrade 2017
Having pushed Ashton Eaton at the 2016 Olympics, Mayer was touted as an obvious successor to the American in the multi-events. Eaton’s departure from the sport came just a few months after defending his title in Rio de Janeiro, paving the way for an earlier than anticipated anointing.
The first of Mayer’s great performances came at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade where he surpassed Roman Sebrle’s European record with 6479 points, setting five lifetime bests along the way. He went on to win the world decathlon title in London later that season before winning the heptathlon title at the World Indoor Championships.
Eaton is still some way ahead of Mayer on the world all-time heptathlon lists but the Frenchman handsomely surpassed his world decathlon record in Talence last September when he scored 9126 points.
Ashia Hansen, Valencia 1998
Ashia Hansen’s career was beset by injury but she bounded into the record books at the 1998 European Indoor Championships in Valencia. Only a medal event at the European Indoor Championships for the fourth time, an ecstatic Hansen recorded a world record of 15.16m which remains the second longest jump ever recorded indoors.
'It blew my mind to go so far,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting it because I was having a lot of problems with my run-up. As soon as I hit the sand I knew it was over 15 metres but I didn’t know it was a world record. The step phase just seemed to go on forever.”
Teddy Tamgho, Paris 2011
Teddy Tamgho’s precision was just as impressive as his jumping as the precocious Frenchman nudged the world indoor triple jump record from 17.90m to 17.92m over the course of a twelve month span.
After jumping 17.90m to win the world indoor title in Doha in 2010, Tamgho improved to 17.91m at the 2011 French Indoor Championships before jumping 17.92m - twice - to win the European indoor title in Paris.
The quality of the final was such that Marian Oprea had to settle for bronze despite surpassing the championship record with 17.62m in the first round. Tamgho hit the sand at 17.92m in the second round before replicating that mark in the fourth round although he believes he could have gone further if required.
'Jumps of 17.90m are no longer out of the norm for me. If someone had jumped 17.93m, I would have pulled off a big jump, but the goal was the gold medal and nothing more,” said Tamgho.
Nelli Cooman, Madrid 1986
With eight European and world indoor titles to her name spanning a decade, Nelli Cooman is arguably the greatest exponent of the 60m. She won six European indoor titles between 1985 and 1994 with her victory in 1986 being particularly noteworthy.
Cooman defeated reigning European and world 100m champion Marlies Gohr for the second championships in a row and making the most of the rarefied conditions in Madrid, Cooman also set a world record of 7.00 - a mark that remained on the books for six years.
Cooman’s prowess over 60m is such that Dafne Schippers, for all of her times and accolades in the sprints, is still to better Cooman’s Dutch record for the distance.