When the Scot departs Gothenburg today with a gold and silver medal to show for her efforts at the European Indoor Championships, she might wonder what lies in store when she re-dedicates herself to her specialist craft in hurdles.
Hours after coming a creditable second, yet again, to British rival Perri-Shakes-Drayton in the individual event, Child led Great Britain and Northern Ireland on a march to victory in the relay, taking her team into a first-leg advantage which they never relinquished as Shana Cox, Christine Ohuruogu and the imperious Shakes-Drayton held off Russia to set a new UK record of 3:27.56, the fifth fastest mark of all-time.
"A very good day at the office," declared the double champion, who like Child, had to fight off fatigue. "It was tough coming back and having to put in a good performance," Child admitted. "But I'm just delighted we came out with the gold."
It was not a bad consolation for her earlier loss to her long-time nemesis, who produced the fastest time by a European for five years of 50.85 seconds. And there has, Child acknowledges, been a genuine leap forward in recent months which should serve her well once she begins her outdoor campaign in the 400m hurdles in May.
Her time of 51.45 reduced her Scottish record still further. Should she opt for the occasional one-lap outing on the flat this summer, Sinead Dudgeon's Scottish outdoor mark of 52.47 seconds will surely be endangered. However with her reputation enhanced, and tangible rewards claimed, Child – an Olympic semi-finalist last summer – will now go forward with greater confidence than before.
"I come away having run a 400 flat in 51.5 seconds which I certainly never expected," the 26-year-old said. "And I'm not sure Malcolm my coach expected me to go that fast either. It's definitely given me confidence. I know now that my speed is there.
"I've always been better with my strength and endurance but now I know I have the quickness too. So it becomes about me getting my hurdling right but I am confident now that I can go into the summer and drop a good time. I just have to be consistent with my stride pattern and nail it."
The British squad took eight medals in total, one fewer than in Paris two years ago, in the first championships under the sport's new coaching regime. The men's 400m relay team avoided the threat of disqualification when Richard Buck stepped off the track to strike gold while Holly Bleasdale earned a first major title in the pole vault by edging out Poland's Anna Rogowska in a jump-off.
Elsewhere, Nigel Levine claimed silver in the 400m, matching sprinter James Dasaolu over 60m, while there was a battling bronze for Mukhtar Mohammed over 800m.
Laura Muir will not come back with a medal but she has accumulated fine memories and valuable experience after accomplishing her ambition to reach the 1500m final on Saturday. Two races in 24 hours proved a tough ask for the Glasgow University student as she came eighth, but her ambitions for 2013 have been raised.
"The European Under-23s will be my main target," she said. "I'd love to go to the worlds of course but everyone's training for that, including quite a few athletes who aren't doing indoors. So it's hard to say if that's realistic, but I'm not ruling it out."
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