Martyn Rooney justified his decision to fight to compete at the European Championships in emphatic fashion by retaining his 400 metres title with a perfectly-timed run in Amsterdam.
The 29-year-old Briton went off slowly before producing a blistering third 100m and just leaving enough in the tank to hold on down the home straight and cross the line in 45.29 seconds.
The cool, overcast conditions at the Dutch capital's Olympic Stadium were not conducive to fast times, but Rooney's clocking was enough to beat Czech Pavel Maslak by 0.07secs.
Having fought for the right to race in Holland after initially fearing he would be told to concentrate on his Olympic preparations, Rooney proved his point in style as he landed Great Britain's third gold medal of the championships.
"I'm just really happy to have delivered what my coach wanted me to do and come away with a gold medal," said Rooney.
"This is a great opportunity for a British athlete to come out, compete and do well.
"At the Olympics, running 43 seconds might be a bit out of my reach, but if I can build on this then I could make the final.
"I spoke to a couple of the athletes and they realised it was a great opportunity to be here. It's a great championships and a great opportunity for people to develop in their season - an opportunity to win medals and get ready for the Olympics."
Meanwhile, Jazmin Sawyers delivered the performance of her life to win long jump silver.
The 22-year-old reached to 6.86m, albeit backed by a strong following wind, to secure second place behind Serbia's Ivana Spanovic, who claimed victory with 6.94m.
Britain had high hopes for a long jump medal heading into the championships, but it had been expected to come from one of either world silver medallist Shara Proctor, who made the late decision to withdraw from the competition, or world indoor bronze medallist Lorraine Ugen, who crashed out in qualifying.
Instead, it was Sawyers, a singer-songwriter and former Winter Youth Olympics medallist in the bobsleigh, who stepped up to the plate.
Britain was able to celebrate another medal in the women's 400m, but it came courtesy of Anyika Onuora rather than Christine Ohuruogu.
Onuora clocked a season's best 51.47s to edge out the two-time world champion by 0.08 as Italy's Libania Grenot defended her title.
Ohuruogu would now appear to be in real danger of missing out on an individual spot in Rio.
She and Onuora are fighting for the final one after Ohuruogu missed the trials through illness and Onuora's victory here could give her the edge, with the team due to be announced on Wednesday.
It would still be a huge call to leave out an athlete of Ohuruogu's proven big-stage ability, though.
There was a belated bronze for Danny Talbot in the 200m after Dutch winner Churandy Martina was disqualified for a lane infringement, having already completed his lap of honour in front of an adoring home crowd.
The decision denied Martina the sprint double following his shock 100m triumph on Thursday.
Talbot, who had thought he had missed out on a medal by 0.05 after coming home fourth in 20.56, was promoted to third.
Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, who in May became the second fastest Britain in history over the distance when clocking 19.95, was bumped up to fifth in 20.60.