Vienna produces fitting finale

Ceplak's victory over Graf was a tremendous upset

BBC Sport Online columnist Steve Cram reflects on the closing day of the European Indoor Championships.

I thought this was probably the best afternoon of indoor athletics I've seen.

It was a great atmosphere, some great races, big shocks and two world records to boot.

The British team can be satisfied with their performances

Steve Cram

I said before the women's 800m final that Jolanda Ceplak would have to run a world record to beat Stephanie Graf and I didn't think she was capable of that.

I thought the Slovenian was good but not that good, and even when Graf moved ahead in the back straight I still thought it was all over then.

There's no love lost between the two athletes and I think that little bit of needle helped spur Ceplak on to come back and win.

What I love about it is that the record was broken in a major championship.

It's a rare thing to see these days as most of them are broken at the Grand Prix meetings.

Jason Gardener's victory was the one most of us expected and, probably wanted, as well.

Gardener and Lewis-Francis provided a great one-two

For Gardener it's been a real tough battle for him to get back after illness and injury in the last two years.

He came to Vienna as defending champion so that shows the last time he was running well was when he won this a couple of years ago.

Mark Lewis-Francis is the new kid on the block and he'll have plenty of opportunities in the future to win.

I just thought he wasn't quite on song here, there's all the problems he's had at home and he's been struggling with a hamstring over the last four weeks.

Jason got away well and after that there was only going to be one result, but it's great for Britain to get a one-two.

Hayley Tullett battled hard in the 1500m but she was ill and nearly pulled out of the championships on Friday.

Looking back she may well regret the decision to compete.

Murphy will be disappointed

In the women's 400m, Catherine Murphy was over-exuberant on the first lap and I think that cost her a medal.

She had a great opportunity of winning a medal and, I know it's easy to say, but I think she could have played it a bit more safe and sat back.

So maybe she will be disappointed on the plane home.

But all in all, the British team can be satisfied with their performances - two golds, three silvers and two bronzes is a good showing.

One of the big plusses of this championship was the way it was so well organised by the Austrian authorities.

I only hope the people from Birmingham, where the world indoor championships are being held next year, were paying close attention.

It was a great atmosphere in the arena and they used the music well.

The great thing was it didn't matter that Austria didn't win a gold medal - it was a great two or three hours of athletics.