Home advantage will be a long time coming again but, in the last international track and field championships in Great Britain before the 2012 Olympic Games in London, it was evident in Birmingham how it can make a difference. For the first time in the 37-year history of the European Indoor Championships, Britain finished top of the medals table.

In the 29th edition of these championships, a total of ten medals was the greatest number won by a Britain team, beating the nine accumulated in 1994. Robert Tobin came off the track yesterday after his second medal of the championships, having added relay gold to his individual 400 metres bronze, with his appetite whetted for five years’ time.

“All that cheering certainly made a difference,” Tobin said. “In the call-room everyone was buzzing, the kit carriers were supporting us and the atmosphere out on the track pulled us round to more medals. Now I cannot wait until 2012.” After winning bronze in the high jump on 2.29 metres, Martyn Bernard said: “The crowd were great and I tried to clear 2.32 metres for them.”

Strictly speaking, these were not the most successful European Indoor Championships for Britain because in 1994 they won five golds. However, on that occasion, there were no silvers and only two bronzes. Here, over the three-day championships, Britain amassed four golds, three silvers and three bronzes, leaving Dave Collins, the national performance director, inwardly delighted.

But Collins, for whom these championships marked the end of his second year in charge, remained guarded on the outside. “We said when we started this journey that, if we get the process and attitude right, medals will come,” Collins said. “We made the most of the positives and neutralised the negatives. I hope this shows people we are doing the right things.”