The European Athletics Indoor Championships in Paris earlier this month was the best indoor competition in the world this winter, according to the respected Hungary-based statistical company All-Athletics.com.
The rankings are formulated according to the meeting performances and the depth of performance.
The highlight in the French capital was Teddy Tamgho's world indoor triple jump record of 17.92m, which the local hero achieved twice in front of family and friends, but the Championships also had another four world-leading marks and a plethora of national records and European-leading performances.
It is the first time since 2005 that the European Athletics Indoors Championships have been first in the world rankings.
Six years ago in Madrid, it was in front of the Birmingham Norwich Union Indoor Grand Prix in Britain but this time around the biggest one day meeting was the Stuttgart Sparkassen-Cup on February 5.
The Stuttgart meeting was actually stronger that the European Athletics Indoor Championships in 2007 and 2009 when the event had to settle for second place in the All-Athletics.com world rankings.
Another German meeting, the 6th Düsseldorf PSD Bank Meeting, a European Athletics Indoor Permit Meeting, is ranked third overall.
The best special meetings, with a restricted number of events, were dominated by European Athletics Indoor Permit Meetings with the Samsung Pole Vault Stars meeting in Donetsk, Ukraine, coming home ahead of the Pedro’s Cup in Bydgoszcz, Poland.