Lavillenie, the Olympic and outdoor European champion, who bettered Sergey Bubka's almost 21-year-old world record with a vault of 6.16m last year, did not enter the fray until 5.75, which he cleared with masses to spare.

After the rest of the field had laboured for almost two hours to reach 5.85 - cleared by Aleksandr Gripich of Russia and Poland's Piotr Lisek - the Frenchman rejoined the competition at 5.90, which he again went over first time.

Neither Gripich, who took silver on countback, nor Lisek could go any further, so Lavillenie's gold was secure as he raised the bar to 6.04.

He cleared this height at the second attempt with the whole of the 02 Arena crowd, and even the men's heptathletes and remainder of the pole vault competitors, clapping him on his way.

Before he hit the landing pit, the Frenchman was already signalling his delight at breaking the record he set in winning on the home ground of Paris in 2011.

France's Renaud Lavillenie celebrates beating his own European Athletics Indoor Championship record in Prague with an effort of 6.04m ©Getty Images

He then made three unsuccessful, but highly acclaimed efforts to clear his world record height of 6.16 before commenting: "It was a very good day for me, I don't know where the limits are and maybe I can go over 6.20."

Lavillenie's younger brother, Valentin, was sixth with 5.65.

Home runner Pavel Maslak also set the O2 Arena crowd into a ferment with a Championship record as he retained his 400m title in 45.33sec.

Belgium's Dylan Borlee, youngest brother of seasoned 400m campaigners Kevin and Jonathan, took silver in a personal best of 46.25 while Rafal Omelko of Poland also produced a personal best, 46.26, to take bronze.

Home favourite Pavel Maslak retained his 400m title in the 02 Arena in Prague
©Getty Images

Portugal's 30-year-old Beijing 2008 Olympic triple jump champion Nelson Evora produced a superb flourish to earn gold with a season's best of 17.21m.

Evora, who has recovered from operations to his right tibia in 2010 and 2012, finished well clear of his nearest challenger, Spain's Pablo Torrijos, who managed 17.05.

Bronze went to a jumper with even more experience than Evora in Romania's 32-year-old Marian Oprea, Olympic silver medallist in 2004, who managed a season's best of 16.91.

Ivana Spanovic produced a Serbian record of 6.98m to earn the women's long jump title ahead of Germany's Sosthene Taroum Moguenara, who jumped 6.83, while Florentina Marincu of Romania took bronze with a European junior record of 6.79.

Ivana Spanovic of Serbia celebrates winning the European Athletics Indoor long jump gold ©Getty Images

The women's high jump title went to Russia's joint World Indoor champion Mariya Kuchina with a clearance of 1.97.

Italy's Alessia Trost also reached 1.97, but had to settle for silver on countback, with bronze going to the woman who shared World Indoor gold with Kuchina last year in Sopot, Poland's Kamila Licwinko, who jumped 1.94.

The women's 400m title went to Ukraine's Nataliya Pyhyda, who clocked a season's best of 51.96 ahead of Indira Terrero of Spain, who claimed silver in 52.63, while bronze went to Britain's Seren Bundy-Davies with a time of 52.64.

Turkey's Ali Kaya took the men's 3000m title in a Championship record of 7min 38.42sec, with Britain's Lee Emmanuel earning silver in a personal best of 7:44.48, and bronze going to Norway's European outdoor gold and silver medallist at 1500m, Henrik Ingebrigtsen, who clocked a national record of 7:45.54.

The women's 3000m gold went to Russia's Yelena Korobkina in 8:47.62, with Sviatlana Kudzelich of Belarus producing a personal best of 8:48.02 to claim silver ahead of Maureen Koster of The Netherlands, who clocked 8:51.64.

Anita Marton of Hungary won the women's shot put with a national record of 19.23m, while silver went to Yulia Leantsiuk of Belarus with 18.60, and Radoslava Mavrodieva of Bulgaria claimed bronze with 17.83.

The morning sprints saw double European outdoor champion Dafne Schippers power into today's 60m semi-finals with the fastest time set in Europe this season, 7.07sec, a personal best by 0.02sec

Britain's 19-year-old Dina Asher-Smith and Germany's former European 100m outdoor champion Verena Sailer underlined their competitive potential as they both set personal bests of 7.10..

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