Most successful women at the European Indoors
Below event by event, we show which international athletes have dominated their event between 1966 and 2019 and then pick out the most successful athletes over all events, writes Steve Smythe.
Hungarian Margit Nemesházi won the opening two championships but the first athlete to really dominate the event was Renate Stecher née Meissner. The 1972 double Olympic champion won four times between 1970 and 1974.
The next dominant figure was 1983 World 100m champion Marlies Gohr. She took the title five times between 1976 and 1983 and then picked up a further four minor medals between 1985 and 1988.
The Dutch powerhouse Nelli Cooman did even better winning the gold five times in a row between 1985 and 1989 and then again in 1994. Apart from her six golds, she also won two bronzes.
Belgium's Kim Gevaert won it three times in a row between 2002 and 2007 when it should be noted the Championships were a little more spaced out from when it was annual from 1966 to 1990.
Verona Elder won it three times between 1973 and 1979 and 1983 double world champion Jarmila Kratochvílová matched that with a trio of wins between 1981 and 1983 and also won a silver behind Elder in 1979. Elder though capped her overall too as she also won a silver and a bronze.
This has proved a difficult event to dominate and the only athlete to defend a title was Switzerland's Selina Buchel who won in 2015 and 2017 - the latter by inches from Shelayna Oskan-Clarke.
Nikolina Shtereva won it in 1976 and 1979.
The 1984 Olympic 800m champion Doina Melinte spread out three victories between 1985 and 1990.
That great veteran athlete Yekaterina Podkopayeva - who also won two world titles in 1993 and 1997 - the last at the age of 44! - won two titles in 1992 and 1994 and was also second in 1996.
Laura Muir has won the last two editions.
The event only started in 1982 and the most dominant athlete was the Netherlands' Elly van Hulst who won it three times between 1988 and 1990 and was also second in 1987 (behind Yvonne Murray).
There are quite a few double winners - Fernando Ribeiro (1994 and 1996), Gabriela Szabo (1998 and 2000), Lidia Chojecka (2005 and 2007) and Muir (2017 and 2019).
The 1964 and 1968 Olympic hurdles champion Karen Balzer won five successive golds between 1967 and 1971.
Grazyna Rabsztyn, who was the first athlete to break 12.50 and 12.40 on electrical timing at 100m hurdles, won three successive golds between 1974 and 1976 and then won three successive silvers between 1978 and 1980 and a bronze in 1972. The Pole made three Olympic finals but only had a best of fifth.
Cornelia Oschkenat, who won the world title in 1987, won three golds between 1985 and 1988 while former 100m hurdles world record-holder Yordanka Donkova also took three titles from 1987 and 1994.
There have been plenty of mass winners of this event that seems to allow longevity.
Rita Schmidt won it three times between 1967 and 1972 then fellow East German Rosemarie Ackermann, the 1976 Olympic champion, dominated between 1974 and 1976.
Her successor as Olympic champion Sara Simeoni proved even more successful winning four golds between 1977 and 1981.
The current world record-holder Stefka Kostadinova, who won the Olympic title in 1996 and also won four world indoor titles also won golds spaced between 1985 and 1994 and also won a silver medal.
This event only debuted in 1997 and has seen little dominance with 2003 world indoor and outdoor champion Svetlana Feofanova winning in 2002 and 2007 and fellow Russian and world champion Anzhelika Sidorova matching her in 2015 and 2019.
If 2013 winner Holly Bradshaw should add the title in 2021, she would become the most successful at the event as she also won a silver in 2019.
The all-time great Heike Drechsler (main image, above), who won four global outdoor titles, also won four golds in this event between 1986 and 1994 and also picked up a silver and bronze.
The 1989 world indoor champion Galina Chistyakova won three golds in this event (and also took a triple jump title in 1990). The Soviet athlete also won two silvers.
The event first featured in 1990 but no athlete has won more than one title. The only gold medallist who has also won a silver medal is Britain's double world indoor champion Ashia Hansen who won in 1998 and was second in 2002.
READ MORE: Ashia Hansen's world record remembered
The 1972 Olympic champion Nadezhda Chizhova won five golds between 1967 and 1972 but her successor as champion Helena Fibingerová did even better winning a seven further golds and the 1983 world champion also won three silvers.
This was first held in 1992 and there have been three double champions Carolina Kluft (2005 and 2007), Antoinette Nana Djimou (2011 and 2013) and Katarina Johnson-Thompson (2015 and 2019) with 2017 champion Nafissatou Thiam hoping to join them this year.
Of the three with two titles already, the 2004 Olympic champion Kluft also won a bronze when a junior in 2002.
Russia (and the Soviet Union) have won six titles with Poland having won the last two gold medals but note Britain have won medals in all of the last eight championships.
11: Helena Fibingerova TCH 1973-1985 - 8 golds, 3 silvers
9: Marlies Gohr GDR 1977-1988 - 5 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze
8: Nelli Cooman NED 1984-1994 - 6 gold, 2 silver
8: Brigitte Kraus FRG 1976-1988 - 3 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze
7: Heike Drechsler GDR/GER 1983-2000 - 4 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze
7: Doina Melinte ROU 1982-1992 - 5 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze
7: Grazyna Rabsztyn POL 1972-1980 - 3 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze
Elsewhere on the AW website there are nostalgia articles on British successes at the European Indoor Champs.
For 1966-1975 CLICK HERE
For 1976-1985 CLICK HERE
For 1986-1998 CLICK HERE
For 2000-2019 CLICK HERE
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