2nd September 2013 00:29
The nine men were announced for the showpiece race of the night and among them was a runner from France and a runner from Great Britain.
Not just there to make up the numbers, but there on the merit of the best summers they have known in the sport.
No wonder Jimmy Vicaut and Adam Gemili smiled as their names were called out. They could be excused for pinching themselves.
What was probably not going through their minds, though it is likely to do so soon, is that next summer they will be back on the same start line at the Letzigrund Stadium, the iconic venue which is staging the European Athletics Championships.
Even now the prospect is mouthwatering because here-in lies the possibility of not only the European record being challenged, but the greatest ever 100m race between European runners.
Ten seconds has been broken only once before in a European Athletics Championship final when Francis Obikwelu won the title in Gothenburg in 9.99 in Göteborg in 2006.
The Portuguese is also the European Athletics record-holder with his 9.86 from Athens two years before that, but if the new 'kids' in the blocks carry on at this speed, that time could soon be under threat.
The all-time European 100m rankings have two new entries in 2013 with Britain's James Dasaolu's 9.91 from Birmingham and Vicaut's 9.95 from Paris, both set on the same day, July 13.
The Netherlands' Churandy Martina, who, like Dasaolu has a personal best of 9.91, remains consistent and France's Christophe Lemaitre is the double European champion while Gemili's 19.98 in the 200m at the World Championships was a huge breakthrough for him, particularly for a man whose main event has always been the 100m.
Add all those ingredients together and the 100m in Zurich at the European Athletics Championships could be a classic.
It was quite some night last Thursday when Vicaut was fourth in 9.98, breaking the 10-second barrier again, and Gemili was eighth in 10.06, just 0.01 outside of his personal best, as Usain Bolt won in 9.90.
And afterwards, Gemili's words showed just what lies ahead.
'It is great to come into a race like this and feel quite confident,” said Gemili. “I can be up there with these guys and the World Championships taught me that I do have the endurance for the two (100m and 200m).
“I need to do a couple more Diamond League meetings like this one and high-class races to sharpen up in the 100m and I can take that forward into my future.
“I am happy. If I had gone under 10 seconds (in Zurich) I would have been the only Briton to go sub-10 and sub-20. I am only 19, hopefully I have many more years in the sport to try to crack that.'
Looking forward, so many foundations put down on the tracks of Europe this year could come into their own in future seasons.
Jamaica, the USA, Canada and St Kitts & Nevis – four countries which have produced the world's leading 100m runners over the past few decades.
But the successes of Lemaitre, Dasaolu, Vicaut and Gemili have shown Europe now has a future to at least challenge the North American stranglehold.
Gemili is not 20 until next month, Vicaut is only 21 while Dasaolu is the older statesman when he turns 26 this Thursday. Lemaitre will be chasing his third successive European crown next summer and he is only 23.
It is a thrilling combination, particularly in how they might bring faster times out in each other when they race against each other.
You only have to look at the way Yohan Blake has emerged, with Bolt as his target, in Jamaica.
Being the best sprinter in Europe is not going to be easy - and heading into a European Athletics Championships year that is a glorious thought because the 100m could end up being the race of next summer, even before this summer's events are even over.