Five years ago Ingo Schultz was a German army officer who ran marathons for fun. Last night he practically blew the famous transparent roof off the grandstand of Munich's Olympic Stadium when winning the European title over 400 metres.
It was Germany's first gold medal of these championships and in front of a sell-out crowd it was greeted with near hysteria. But Schultz has become something of a national treasure in the last year after redesigning himself as world-beater over 400 metres.
At the World Championships in Edmonton last summer he took the silver medal in what was his first serious season in the event. Before then he was much more interested in playing chess and the violin - plus marathon running - rather than the most demanding of the sprint events.
The pressure in Munich last night was unprecedented for Schultz but the towering German didn't disappoint. From the gun he left his seven opponents trailing and into the homestretch had enough to hold off the fast-closing challenges of Spain's David Canal and Britain's Daniel Caines.
The time of 45.14 seconds has rarely looked easier and his talent for one-lap racing still appears totally untapped. Canal ran a season's best of 45.24 to take silver, while Caines looked a little disappointed with his bronze medal in 45.28.
Just 30 minutes later Grit Breuer was on the track looking to bring a second gold medal to Germany in the women's race. This time though the Russian Olesya Zykina spoiled the celebrations by leading from the gun to the line, winning in 50.45 seconds to Breuer's 50.70.
Britain's Lee McConnell set a lifetime best of 51.02 to take the surprise bronze. For Breuer, who won the title in 1998 as well as 1990, the disappointment was clear but having missed most of the season through injury the result was not unexpected.
Earlier in the night, the men's 1,500 metres produced a finish much more associated with one of the sprint events. After the field crawled around for the first three laps, defending champion Reyes Estevez of Spain suddenly found himself in a breakneck sprint with Mehdi Baala of France for the title and all the way down the homestretch not the width of their vests could separate them.
It was that way, too, on the finish line as both Estevez and Baala were credited with the same time - three minutes 45.25 seconds. Several minutes passed before the photo-finish was decided and the title went to France for the first time since Michel Jazy in 1962. Only two one-thousands of a second separated gold from silver.
But Baala's winning time was, incredibly, the slowest since the championships of 1950 when Willem Slijkhuis of Holland ran 3:47.2. Not that Baala seemed bothered, as his last lap of 51.67 seconds was without doubt one of the fastest ever over 1,500 metres, and his first major title certainly made up for all his under-performing of the last few years.
World and European Indoor champion Rui Silva of Portugal couldn't quite match that sort of finish and had to settle on the bronze in 3:45.43. Britain's hope and recent Commonwealth Michael East also found the last lap too much to handle and took sixth in 3:46.30.
But it wasn't all about close finishes in Munich last night. Jolanda Ceplak of Slovenia coasted home in the women's 800 metres. Passing halfway in 57.61 seconds, and already 10 metres clear of the chasing field, she stormed home with her blond hair flying in the German night to take gold in 1:57.65.
Britain's Kelly Holmes couldn't quite hold on for silver and was passed by Spain's Mayte Martinez approaching the line - clocking 1:59.83 to the Spaniard's 1:58.86. Holmes, though, is out this morn-ing in the heats of the 1,500 metres look-
ing to go that bit better in Sunday's final.
