It was the summer that changed the life of Bohdan Bondarenko - and after being rewarded for his high jump success in Tallinn on Saturday night, he revealed the desire that is driving him to something even more spectacular.
Ukrainian Bondarenko, 24, the newly-crowned Male European Athlete of the Year, won the world title in Moscow, he won the Diamond Race and he took his personal best to 2.41m, a height he cleared on two occasions and that made him the joint-third best of all-time.
Now he wants to be the very best and break the world record of 2.45m which Cuba's Javier Sotomayor set in Salamanca in July 1993.
He has attempted to go higher this summer but as he celebrated his success in Estonia on Saturday night, he said: 'This year we had many great high jumpers who could jump 2.40m and higher - I think that any of them can jump the world record height. But I won’t sleep before I have cleared the world record, maybe next year.'
It is easy some time for a sportsman or woman to make a prediction for the sake of it but Bondarenko has shown he has the talent to aim for those major heights, with Patrik Sjoberg's European record of 2.42m, which has lasted since 1987, also under major threat.
His moment could arrive at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich in August where Bondarenko will be looking to add to his Moscow gold - just as will Zuzana Hejnova, of the Czech Republic.
Hejnova joined him on stage on Saturday night when she was named the Female European Athlete of the Year after her extraordinary unbeaten spell which saw her win the 400m hurdles gold at the World Championships and also take the Diamond Race title.
In Tallinn, Henjova reflected on the summer and said that 2013 'was truly wonderful'.
She added: 'I would have never expected that everything could be so easy. I was healthy and after each competition, I felt stronger not only physically but also mentally.'
That was shown in the consistency of her performances where she was just unstoppable, with so much speed throughout the whole race, not just over the punishing final barriers.
She took herself from Olympic bronze in 2012 to world gold in 2013 with a change in circumstances proving important.
Hejnova, 26, added: 'Last autumn I joined with Dalibor Kupka’s training group and trained more with male athletes. Tough training gave me more self-confidence. I didn’t believe that during my career I could be elected European Athlete of the Year.'
The 400m hurdles also brought honours for European Athletics’ Male Rising Star of the Year who was 22-year-old Serbian Emir Bekric who had an amazing few weeks during the summer.
After winning gold at the European Athletics Under-23 Championships in Tampere in a national record of 48.76, he then took his career to another level by finishing third at the World Championships in Moscow.
That national record was broken twice in Russia - with 48.36 in the semi-finals and then his 48.05 in the final - and how he savoured every moment of his glory.
Speaking after receiving his award, Bekric said: 'I am always proud to represent my country and during world championships in Moscow, I was supported a lot from Serbia.
'I am still young and I want to keep training hard. I am confident that I can improve in the future. The most important things are the medals and then the result. I hope to win more medals in the future.
'We will see – everything is possible.'
Iceland's Anita Hinriksdottir, 17, won the Women's European Athletics Rising Star award after her summer where she became her country's first gold medallist in a global track and field event when she won the 800m at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Donetsk and then a week later repeated her glory at the European Athletics Junior Championships in Rieti.
It was some double.
She broke the Championship record in Donetsk with her time of 2:01.13 and then in Rieti, she won in 2:01.14. Now she has a fresh aim.
'Breaking two minutes is the target for the next year,' said Hinriksdottir, speaking in Tallinn where she also revealed she started her preparations for next season two weeks ago.
What a night of delight for all the awards winners - and what expectation for 2014 for even greater glory.