by Stuart Weir
This is the intro to the European Athletics team championships, written by Stuart Weir.
European Team Championships Division 1
This weekend sees the European Team Championships Division 1 take place in Madrid. The concept is simple: 16 countries with one athlete from each in each discipline. 16 team points for the winner and 1 point for the 16th. Races are run in two heats with places allocated on times. The 16 countries involved are:
Czech, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine.
It is a wonderful concept – the best athlete from each country competing against their counterparts. That is the concept but it does not quite deliver. Of the GB team perhaps 8 of the 40+ athletes would have been the selected had everyone been available for selection. I remember talking to Aikaterina Stefanidi at the 2013 event. He was hesitant in answering my question about why she was there. She liked supporting her country. She had happy memories of the stadium. She hesitated and then said: “but I’m a professional athlete. I should be paid to compete”. And that is where the rubber hits the road. Why would an athlete with the choice choose to compete in The European Teams for nothing rather than be paid to go to Ostrava, Hengelo Or a Diamond League?
The winner, therefore, will not be the team With the strongest selection of athletes in depth but the country which is able to field Proportion off their first choices. But paying 650 Athletes to compete would require a much more significant budget that is realistic for the event.
In 2023 in Poland, Italy was the winner with Poland second and Germany third. GB was fifth.
European countries are split into 3 divisions with the bottom 3 relegated and being replaced by the top three in the division below.
There was one unforgettable Moment in 2023 when the Belgian women’s Sprint hurdler got injured I’m the shot putter, Joleon Boumkwo, replaced her, just needing to get from start to finish to record at least one point for her team.
See her run at https://x.com/i/status/1937062986432090535
