From humble beginnings in 1985 the championships have doubled in size over the course of seven competitions and 14 years prior to the Lisbon games.

The IAAF World Indoor Games were held in Paris in January 1985, but as they coincided with the North American indoor season, it was very much a European affair.

In an effort to embrace global athletics in 1987, the inaugural IAAF World Indoor Championships were held in America.

Since that inception they have developed into the most prestigious indoor event on the athletics calendar, never failing to deliver excitement and world records every two years.

The Indianapolis crowd were entertained by 13 men's events and 11 women's events in which Heike Dreschler won two gold medals.

Dreschler secured a new world record in the 200 metres and also took gold in the long jump.

But Canada's Ben Johnson stole the plaudits with a world record in the 60m, and the drama did not end at the conclusion of the race.

After being disgraced at the Seoul Olympics, when Johnson was revealed as a drug's cheat, his gold medal and world record were instead given to America's Lee McRae.

Head-to-heads

Two years on in Budapest, Hungary, another five world records were broken, two in dramatic circumstances.

Cuba's legendary high jumper Javier Sotomayor finally won gold with a record jump of 2.43 metres after six hours of competition.

However an even greater head-to-head took place on the track.

Elly van Hulst and Liz McColgan broke away from the field in the 3000m matching each other stride for stride.

The Dutch athlete finally snatched victory from McColgan and smashed the world record as the pair finished 15 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Kenya's Paul Ereng also broke the 800 metres world record despite leaving it late on two counts.

Ereng only entered the championships at the last minute and then waited to the bell before making his move from fifth to first to claim the first of two gold medals at the championships.

New flag, old winners

Toronto was the last occasion that the men's 5,000 metre and the women's 3,000 metre walking titles would be competed for at the championships.

Russia's Mikhael Shchennikov ensured he left the stage holding onto the men's walking gold medal, a prize he never lost in six years of competition which included three world record efforts - the first of which he only secured by one-hundreth of a second in 1987.

Back in Europe and back in Spain in 1995 only one world record was broken in Barcelona.

Two years after coming second to Kravets in the triple jump, Russia's Iolanda Chen not only climbed to the top step of the podium but in the process also broke the Ukranian's world record.

Romania's Gabriela Szabo made her debut at the championships winning the first of her three gold medals in the 3,000 metres.

And Sotomayor and Bubka each collected their third world indoor gold medals in the high jump and pole vault respectively.

Great Dane

Wilson Kipketer stole the show in Paris in 1997 claiming two of the four world records that fell over the three days.

Running in the 800 metres, the Dane broke the world record in his heat on the first day before subsequently breaking that record in the final two days later.

America's Stacy Dragila won the women's pole vault on its introduction to the competition with a world record.

The final record was broken in the penultimate event in the championships when Russia's women successfully defended their 4 x 400 metre title with a time they again broke in 1999.