Duplantis, as expected, added the European Indoor pole vault title to his rapidly growing list of achievements in an Arena without spectators other than enthusiastic fellow athletes and officials.

The 20-year-old Swede required just three first-time clearances, the highest of which was 5.85 metres, before going on to set a Championship record of 6.05m and then taking three tilts - one of them close - at adding a centimetre to his own world record of 6.18m.

While France’s 34-year-old former world record holder Renaud Lavillenie was unable to compete because of a hamstring problem, his younger brother Valentin earned his first big medal as he took silver, equalling his personal best of 5.80, with home vaulter Piotr Lisek taking bronze on countback.

Shortly afterwards there was another record attempt from another confirmed gold medallist as Ukraine’s 19-year-old phenomenon Mahuchikh, whose clearance of 2.00m had finally seen off the challenge of team-mate Iryna Herashchenko, set her sights on what would have been a Championship record and personal best of 2.07m.

Like Duplantis, she didn’t reach her target; like Duplantis, she surely soon will.

A little earlier in the evening 20-year-old Norwegian Ingebrigtsen had completed the 1500 and 3,000m double that eluded him two years ago in Glasgow.

After the anxieties of Friday (March 5) night, when he was disqualified after winning the 1500m and reinstated more than three hours later, today’s retention of his 3,000m title was straightforward as he accelerated away from the field after a slow race that suited him perfectly.

Ingebrigtsen won in a personal best of best of 7min 48.20sec.

Belgium’s Isaac Kimeli won the other race, taking silver in 7:49.41, with Spain’s Adel Mechaal earning bronze in 7:49.47 from his team mate Mohamed Katir, who clocked 7:49.72.

Ajla Del Ponte won the women’s 60m title in stunning fashion, dominating from start to finish and clocking 7.03sec, which took 0.05 off the 2021 world lead jointly held by Britain’s world 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith, who chose not to compete here, and Javianne Oliver of the United States.

The 24-year-old Swiss sprinter, part of the Dutch training set-up in Papendal, had looked smooth and assured through the rounds, but her composure broke very loudly as she realised the nature of her achievement - she has now moved to joint fifth on the all-time European list.

Nadine Visser retained her women’s 60m hurdles title in superb fashion, clocking a 2021 world best of 7.77, 0.04 faster than the mark she had previously shared with Christina Clemons of the United States.

That win, and victories for the men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams, enabled the Dutch to finish top of the medals table with four golds, a silver and two bronzes, followed by Portugal, with three golds, and Britain with two golds, four silvers and six bronzes.

Portugal won the men’s and women’s triple jumps through Pedro Pablo Pichardo, who had a best of 17.30m, and Patricia Mamona, whose national record of 14.53m was challenged in the final round by Spain’s Ana Peleteiro, who finished with silver on 14.52m.

The 1000 metres which concluded the heptathlon was effectively a victory run for France’s world decathlon record holder Kevin Mayer, who was out of reach of any of his rivals and finished with a winning total of 6392 points after finishing seventh out of the remaining eight competitors in 2:45.72.

In the same week that she turned 19, Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson, who set an 800m world under-20 indoor record of 1:59.03 last month, ran like a veteran to take women’s 800m gold.

One of three Britons in a final that began in slow and tentative fashion, she tracked home runner Joanna Jozwik, who was fifth in the Rio 2016 Olympic final, before moving to the front before the bell and timing her run for home to perfection, having the leeway to raise both arms as she crossed the line in 2:03.88.

Jozwik took silver in 2:04.00, with bronze going to her team mate Angelika Cichocka, who recorded 2:04.15.

Poland’s Patryk Dobek won the men’s 800m in a personal best of 1:46.81, with silver going to team mate Mateusz Borkowski in 1:46.90 ahead of Britain’s early leader Jamie Webb, who clocked 1:46.95.

The first of 12 scheduled finals in the last session of these Championships saw Britain’s world indoor 60m hurdles champion Andrew Pozzi equalling his personal best of 7.43 but having to settle for silver as Wilhem Belocian, one lane to his left, remained tantalisingly out of reach after a smart start to win in 7.42.

Earlier in the day a dramatic men’s high jump final had been won by Maksim Nedasekau of Belarus with a first-time clearance of 2.37m, the best in the world this year, that finally ended the challenge of Italy’s defending champion Gianmarco Tamberi, who took silver with 2.35m.