It was the summer of 2012 and British Athletics was riding the crest of a wave. A home Olympics had galvanised a nation of track and field fans, and the stars of Team GB had delivered some famous performances. The medals were piling up and we were set fair for a golden legacy that would last long into the future...
Fast forward to this summer, five years later, and with the World Athletics Championships in full flow at the very same stadium, the picture is far less rosy for the sport in Great Britain. With UK Sport setting the team a target of six to eight medals during the championships, they look set to fail miserably with just one to their name at the time of writing and very little prospect of achieving their goal.
Of the 2012 Olympic medallists, only Mo Farah remains and it is his 10000m Gold Medal on the opening night that remains the only medal next to Team GB in the table. Farah is likely to back that up with another gold in the 5000m later in the week, but with the long-distance runner set to retire from the track at the end of 2017, it is hard to see where the next British star is coming from.
Jessica Ennis-Hill hung up her running spikes last year after a glittering career to leave a vacuum, whilst fellow 2012 hero Greg Rutherford has struggled for fitness of late, and with doubts about his long term durability, there doesn't appear to be a young jumper ready to follow in his famous footsteps.
This week has been a sobering wake-up call for UK Athletics with a worrying lack of medal contenders, and it appears as if the UK could be in for a quiet few years when it comes to track and field sport.
Laura Muir put in a great effort to finish 4th in the 1500m, whilst similar comments apply to Klye Langford who finished in the same position in the 800m, but after that there has been a real lack of genuine medal contenders this time, and that is the major problem Team GB faces going forward. Katarina Johnson-Thompson showed glimpses of her undoubted talent in the Heptathlon but never really threatened for a medal once again having made a mess of the High Jump, and you have to wonder if she is ever going to realise her potential.
Elsewhere, we saw Holly Bradshaw and Sophie Hitchon leave the stadium in tears having both failed to get close to the medal positions, despite going into their events with every chance of shaking up the top three positions. Hitchon shocked the world with a bronze in the Hammer Throw at the Olympics but failed to get close to matching that, whilst Bradshaw appeared unable to cope with the pressure in the Pole Vault.
The lack of medals is a of major concern but equally, the lack of finalists hints at a lack of strength and depth at the highest level in this country. Andrew Pozzi failed to make it past the semi-finals of the 100m Hurdles is one example of UK athletes failing to realise their potential and kick on with their careers, whilst the complete no show from the men in the 400 metres is even more shocking, especially when you look the British history in the event.
There has been no British sprint medal in the 100m or 200m since Darren Campbell scraped a bronze in 2003, and no sign of one any time soon. Young British sprinter Reece Prescod is one of the few British athletes this week to have overachieved having made the 100m final, and his progress will now be watched closely ahead of the next Olympics. Can he use this as a stepping stone and become a medal contender, or will he fall by the wayside like so many before him?
Funding for the athletes is assured up until the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo but unless Team GB start to show some serious improvement, the money will start to dry up, and the legacy of 2012 could already be wasted.
