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| Frenchman Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad retained his European 3000m steeplechase title in Helsinki in style and will go to the London Olympic Games next month bristling with confidence. |
It was the best race so far of the European Athletics Championships, it was also the biggest heartbreak.
As the 3000 metres steeplechase reached a thrilling conclusion here at the Olympic Stadium this evening, one barrier remained and Spain's Victor Garcia had timed his run to perfection to overtake the leader, Frenchman Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad, the defending champion.
How fortunes can change in a split second.
As Mekhissi-Benabbad cleared the hurdle, Garcia clipped it as he led in the air. He hit the track, his right hand breaking his fall, his eyes looking ahead to see his rival run away to victory.
Garcia scrambled to his feet, not quick enough to stop Türkiye's Tarik Akdag going past him for silver but fast enough to regain a composure of sorts to win bronze.
'I slowed down at the last moment and I fell,' said Garcia. 'I just wanted to get up as quick as possible and I don't really know what happened there.
'This is just sport so anything can happen. I am really happy with the result, the medal is important for me and I really appreciate it.'
Talk about seizing the moment. He did not want to miss out on his lap of honour and limped part of the way as the reaction to accident set in, the crowd rising to their feet to hail the fallen hero.
They had equally cheered for Mekhissi-Benabbad whose power and height was so decisive in a race won in the slowest time since the 1958 European Athletics Championships when Poland's Jerzy Chromik took gold in Stockholm in 8:38.2
Mekhissi-Benabbad triumphed in 8:33.23 from Akdag in 8:35.24 with Garcia third in 8:35.87.
But who cares about times when races like this one are packed with so much drama and intensity, simply an event you could not take your eyes off because of the way the lead changed.
Mekhissi-Benabbad, 27, is creating quite a reputation for himself and he will now head to the Olympic Games in London next month bristling with the confidence that he can make the podium again.
At the Olympics in Beijing he was second and with a personal best of 7:44.98 from Hengelo in 2010, he has the speed to increase pace.
A year ago at the World Championships in Daegu, Mekhissi-Benabbad took bronze and he has that consistency that most athletes can only dream of - winning medals on a regular basis.
'I am very, very pleased,' said Mekhissi-Benabbad. 'I had lot of pressure going in to this race.
'This is a reward for all the hard work I have done. My tactic was to first just the follow the others and secure my chances for victory.'
Akdag added: 'The race was a little bit slow but I am very happy with my second position.'
It was a great race.
Mekhissi-Benabbad did begin in the lead for the odd stride before reverting to that game-plan, settling in the first five throughout.
Poland's Lukasz Oslizlo, who finished 12th in 8:44.51, had a turn in taking in front as did Akdag before Mekhissi-Benabbad's teammate Nordine Gezzar made his bid for glory.
At the bell, it was Gezzar but the lead quickly changed as Mekhissi-Benabbad took over but with 250m left Garcia was closing all the time.
The water-jump is always decisive but both men took that without too much trouble and it seemed a straight head-to-head to the finish.
Which it was, until the last barrier loomed and with it one's man hope of gold ended and another became the champion again.