The European Athletics Championships kick off in Birmingham

Brussels – Following Rome in 2024, it is now the United Kingdom’s turn. From today, 10 August, until Sunday 16 August, the city of Birmingham will host the European Athletics Championships, the continental athletics competition organised by the European Athletics Association. This is a biennial championship, held in even-numbered years. The same rules also apply to the Under-18 championship, which took place this year in Rieti. This year’s edition features 1.643 athletes, 840 men and 803 women, from 49 countries. This year, Italy has fielded its largest ever team: according to estimates by the International Olympic Committee, with 130 competitors, 69 men and 61 women, the Italian national team has never been so large, surpassing the record set in 2024, when 116 athletes competed. 

Among the Italians are several champions from the last Olympic Games, including all the individual gold medallists from Tokyo 2020 and the three medallists from Paris 2024. These include the reigning European two-time champion in the men’s 100m, Lamont Marcell Jacobs, the European high jump title holder, Gianmarco Tamberi, the race walk champions, Massimo Stano and Antonella Palmisano, and the middle-distance champion, Nadia Battocletti. Also added are the Olympic bronze medallist in the triple jump, Andy Diaz, while in the men’s 4x100m relay, Eseosa Desalu  and Lorenzo Patta will be competing. Also defending their continental titles are Leonardo Fabbri in the shot put and Sara Fantini in the hammer throw. The Olympic bronze medallist in the long jump, Mattia Furlani , was forced to withdraw today due to injury. 

Athletics is a sport comprising a range of disciplines involving running, jumping, throwing or walking. It includes both individual events, such as the 100 metres, the marathon or the long jump, as well as combined events, including the decathlon and the heptathlon, and team events, such as the 4×100-metre relay. The very first event ever held at the ancient Olympic Games was the”stadium” race, a sprint of approximately 192 metres, the winners of which were recorded as far back as 776 BC. Some of the disciplines contested today were already included in the ancient Olympic Games, including running, the long jump, the shot put and the javelin. At the first modern Olympic Games, held in Athens in 1896, athletics was already considered one of the cornerstones of the programme.