Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson shed tears of frustration after missing the world record by a mere 13 points as she powered to pentathlon gold at the European Athletics Indoor championships in Prague on Friday.
The 22-year-old set a new British record at a world-leading 5,000 points in Prague's O2 Arena, but was a second short in the final 800-metre run to beat the world record set by Ukraine's Nataliya Dobrynska in 2012.
"I have tears in my eyes but unfortunately not from happiness but unhappiness," Johnson-Thompson said after the final run.
"This is my first big major medal and national record, I appreciate it a lot."
"But I felt I was able to go even further and was ready for the world record," she added.
Johnson-Thompson proved a solid replacement in the British team for Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill, who is due to return from maternity leave later this year.
The world junior champion from 2009 took the lead after the opening 60 metres hurdles with a personal best of 8.18sec, then dominated the high jump contest with 1.95m.
After losing the lead with a paltry 12.32m in shot put, Johnson-Thompson was quick to regain momentum with a winning 6.89m leap in the long jump and a speedy 2min 12.78sec in 800 metres.
Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam took the second spot with 4,696 points ahead of the Czech Republic's Eliska Klucinova with 4,687 points.
The men's 60 metres hurdles turned into a French party with Pascal Martinot-Lagarde taking the top honours in 7.49sec ahead of Dimitri Bascou (7.50) and Wilhem Belocian (7.52).
Martinot-Lagarde scored his first big win since leaving the junior category after finishing second at the indoor worlds in Sopot in 2011 and third at the indoor Euro in Gothenburg in 2013 and the Euro in Zurich last year.
"This is a special historic moment for France. I think this proves that there are the best hurdlers in France," beamed the 23-year-old.
Alina Talay from Belarus was the fastest among women on the shortest hurdles track, clocking 7.85sec for a national record and beating Britain's Lucy Hatton and Serita Solomon, who both set personal bests at 7.90sec and 7.93sec, respectively.
Michel Torneus of Sweden won the men's long jump, setting a new national record with a world-leading 8.30m ahead of the Czech Republic's Radek Juska (8.10) and compatriot Andreas Otterling (8.06).
Torneus took this year's record from France's Kafetien Gomis, who failed to make it to the finals from Thursday's qualification.
Germany's David Storl won the men's shot put with a throw of 21.23 metres for his first-ever indoor title after winning outdoor world titles in 2011 and 2013 and the European outdoor gold in 2014.
Serbia's Asmir Kolasinac, the European indoor champion from Gothenburg 2013, came second with 20.90m ahead of the Czech Republic's Ladislav Prasil, who defended the bronze from Gothenburg with 20.66 metres.
Source: AFP