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By Steve Cram BBC Sport

If Konstantinos Kenteris' 200m win was the performance of the championships so far, Steve Backley's gold was the highlight for Brits present on another great night in Munich.

I genuinely didn't think beforehand that Steve could do it. I thought if he could throw 88 metres he'd give himself a great chance, but I couldn't see that happening.

Golden glory for Backley

I watched him in Stockholm under a month ago and he was minging. There's no other word for it.

I know he threw well at the Commonwealths, but he didn't need to do much there. And the Europeans are a virtual Olympics.

It was almost an exact replica of Michael Johnson in Atlanta - and there can be no greater compliment

Cram on Kenteris

And when Sergey Makarov went big with his first one and Steve couldn't match him, I feared that was that.

How does he do it? Where does he get it from?

It's time we lavished the praise on him that he deserves. We all talk a lot about Colin Jackson and Jonathan Edwards and what they have done down the years - and rightly so - but Steve Backley has more than matched them.

He's won four Europeans, just missed Olympic and World gold by a fraction, and broken the world record.

The mark of a true champion is when they can summon up something special on the biggest occasions.

Steve lives and breathes major championships. I'm delighted for him.

Steve Backley celebrates with the Union Jack flag
Backley showed the mark of a true champion

Kenteris' run was nothing short of awesome.

In my commentary I almost missed the time that he had clocked because I was looking back at the battle for silver and bronze.

But what a time. Before the race Michael Johnson told me that he wouldn't truly rate Kenteris until he had run under 20 seconds.

He crossed the line so far ahead of everyone else that it was almost an exact replica of Johnson at the Atlanta Olympics - and there can be no greater compliment than that.

Kenteris storms to 200m gold

I think Marlon Devonish was probably put off by the start Kenteris got. It was an absolute belter, and Marlon wasn't able to run the bend he needed.

He'll be disappointed with the bronze. Christian Malcolm, on the other hand, ran a terrific race.

His hamstring has been bothering him all year, and prior to this race he had to have an injection in his back to try to loosen it up.

Look at the bare results and fourth place doesn't seem much like a triumph. But after all Christian's been through, it is.