As January edges to a close, every indoor performance now has greater significance with the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade drawing ever nearer and team selections not far away.
The past few days have been a prime example, with standards being met and big names showing that they are ready to make their mark in Serbia at the start of March.
Nowhere more so than in Chemnitz on Saturday as David Storl flexed his muscles ahead of his potential bid to retain the shot put crown he won in Prague two years ago.
One of the great European field-eventers of all time, German Storl opened his season with 20.66m, a victory which sets him smoothly on the path towards Belgrade where he will be the favourite again as he chases a third medal at this championship.
In Paris in 2011 he won silver (20.75m) before gold in Prague with 21.23m as part of the dominance he has over this event in Europe, which he showed last summer by securing a hat-trick of titles at the European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam.
As Storl won in excellent fashion on Saturday, there was an eye-catching double sprint success at this regional championship for fellow German and European relay bronze medallist Rebekka Haase who won the 60m in 7.20 and the 200m in 23.37.
It was a good day for German athletes because in Halle, Cindy Roleder stepped up her bid for a European double after winning 100m hurdles gold in Amsterdam last summer. Fourth in Prague in 2015, Roleder won the 60m in 7.48m ahead of the 60m hurdles challenge that awaits in Belgrade.
In Athens, Greek sprinter Panayiotis Andreadis ran the Belgrade standard when he won the 60m in 6.64m but he will now have to do it again as this meeting was not among those selected by the federation for qualifying marks, while in Modena, Italy’s Massimiliano Ferraro won in 6.60.
French sprinter Stella Akakpo won the 60m in Eaubonne in 7.23 and Polish star Ewa Swoboda ran 7.43 in the heats and 7.48 in the final in Brzeszcze.
Trondheim was the setting for a fine run by 800m specialist Hedda Hynne, who broke the Norwegian indoor 600m record with victory in 1:29.46. It's an impressive base for the 800m in Belgrade where Switzerland’s Selina Buchel is the defending champion and she started her season over 400m in St Gallen on Sunday by running 55.05 ahead of the move to the longer distance.
Belgrade standards were in full flow in Spain too.
In Madrid, Mark Ujakpor ran 47.04 for the 400m and Daniel Solis leaped 7.80m in the long jump and in Sabadell, Marc Alcala won the 1500m at the open meeting in 3:42.28 while behind, Gonzalo Garcia (3:43.13) and Jordi Torrents (3:43.16) were also inside the qualifying time of 3:44.00.
And in Vaxjo, Sweden, Benjamin Lobo Vedel did more than just beat the 400m Belgrade time of 47.35, he broke the Danish under-23 record as he ran 46.78.