Mo Farah has another gold medal to add to his collection, having become European champion over 10,000 metres just six weeks after collapsing in his bathroom and being airlifted to hospital.
It is fair to say things have gone awry since last year becoming only the second man in history to complete an Olympic and world 'double-double' in the distance events.
Farah has endured a wretched season until now, with a disappointing showing at the London Marathon compounded by an illness which forced him to miss a Diamond League meeting in Glasgow and the subsequent Commonwealth Games.
The 31-year-old only revealed the full extent of that illness upon arriving in Zurich on Monday, explaining how an infected tooth ended in him collapsing and being airlifted to hospital due to concerns over his heart.
Farah was quick to insist he was fit and ready for the European Championships, though, and showed on Wednesday evening that he was not only strong enough to just tackle the long-distance double, but possibly top the podium in both.
He held strong under pressure to win in 28 minutes 08.11 seconds, with British team-mate Andy Vernon - involved in a recent Twitter spat with Lynsey Sharp - producing a fine late surge to take silver.
"It meant a lot to me," Farah, European champion over the distance in 2010, said.
"I was really ill a few weeks ago but training has gone well. Winning the European Championships again really does mean a lot to me.
"I didn't want to let people down after missing the Commonwealth Games - it hasn't been easy.
"I won the 5,000m and 10,000m double in Barcelona in 2010 and I won one title in Helsinki two years ago. Now I'm excited for the 5,000m and I hope to run well again."
Farah got a celebratory hug from Jamaican star Usain Bolt and did a lap of honour in the drizzle with team-mate Vernon.
"This medal, it is a lot of work, months and years," Vernon said after winning silver. "You got to get up on all those cold and rainy mornings for training. It takes a lot of motivation.
"When I woke up this morning I knew that I had a chance on medalling. In such a race everything has to be perfect in order to get a medal.
"On the home straight I tried on the inside, the gap closed and then I had to go round."
That success brought Great Britain's medal haul to three after 40-year-old Jo Pavey won the women's 10,000m race so impressively on the opening night.
The 100m sprinters took to the track after the mother-of-two collected her gold medal, when the success continued thanks to Ashleigh Nelson.
The 23-year-old recovered from a slow start to cross the line in 11.22 seconds, securing bronze behind Dafne Schippers and Myriam Soumare.
"I've got to start off with a big thanks to my coach and medical team," Nelson said. "A big thanks to those guys.
"The last few years have just been managing injuries and it's been tough. This year I wanted to come back and make sure I was in the final here because when you're in it you never know what might happen.
"I didn't feel like that was my best race and I feel like there's a lot more to come. It's taken a lot of persistence and belief from myself and the people around me. I can't thank everyone enough."
Tiffany Porter continued Britain's triumphant night on the track by winning the 100m hurdles crown, and then James Dasaolu completed it with gold in the men's 100m.
Dasaolu won in 10.06 from France's Christophe Lemaitre (10.13) and compatriot Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (10.22).
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article