by Stuart Weir
GB team for the 2024 European Championships
Up to 2012, the European Athletics Championships took place every four years. Since then, it is every 2nd year. The 2024 event in Rome in June will be the third European Championship to be held in the Olympic year – after 2012 and 2016. The 2020 event was canceled because of COVID. The problem with running a European Championship in an Olympic year and in effect about 6-7 weeks before the Olympics is that a significant proportion of top athletes choose not to compete as they believe they can better prepare for the Olympics by training or competing in one-off races.
The GB team named this week—which is listed in full at the end of this article—consists of about 72 athletes. The exact number is uncertain because some selected athletes need to have their invitation confirmed by European Athletics.
As a general rule, sprinters are happy to compete in a championship close to the Olympics. Still, middle-distance runners believe that it is not helpful to them to run three rounds potentially in three days so close to their main event.
The 2024 GB team includes several of our potential Olympic medalists
Sprinters: Dina Asher-Smith, Daryll Neita, Zharnel Hughes
400m Matthew Hudson-Smith (withdrawn)
800m Keely Hodgkinson
Pole Vault Holly Bradshaw, Molly Caudery
Heptathlon: Katarina Johnson-Thompson
At the media briefing, Head Coach Paula Dunn was asked about the basis for the selection, remembering that the European Championships precede the Olympic selection trials. She said it was a combination of athletes asking to be considered and her approaching athletes as to their availability. With the Olympics clearly the priority it was stressed that there was no pressure on athletes or coaches to make themselves available for European selection.
Paula also admitted that she was pleasantly surprised at how many “top” athletes wanted to be in Rome: “I think if you had asked me in January or February, I would have probably said not that many of our big hitters would be interested in competing. So from our perspective, it’s great that we’ve got the likes of KJT or Matt Hudson-Smith there and some really up-and-coming athletes competing.”
Interestingly, our three best 10000m runners – Megan Keith, Eilish McColgan, Jessica Warner-Judd have opted to run in Rome, as have middle distance runners Neil Gourley and George Mills – although George will run 5k. It may be a case of thinking that a medal in the Europeans is realistic while an Olympic medal is not. Speaking specifically about Eilish McColgan, of whom Dunn said, “She had a great 2022 and obviously an atrocious 2023”, the head coach suggested that perhaps Eilish needed a convincing championship performance before Paris – convincing not just to the selectors but to herself as well.
There was also some discussion of 800m runner Phoebe Gill, who is only 17 but has a 1:57 and a 1:58 to her name. The head coach said there had been a conversation with her, but she had decided to concentrate on finishing her High School year and exams rather than running in Rome. Similarly, CJ Ujah had been approached, but he wanted to spend the time training for the GB Champs to give himself the best possible chance to make the Olympic team.
Asked whether she thought there was a place for a European Championship in an Olympic year, Paula said that she saw value in it: “The fact that we have got so many of our high-level athletes competing shows that there is a need to have a competition of this nature. As I said initially, I wouldn’t have envisioned so many of our high-profile athletes targeting it. But I think the fact that they have shown that there’s definitely a benefit to doing it before the Olympic Games. The reality is you get very few opportunities to do rounds and get the feel of a championship, sleeping in a different bed and all those things that happen when you’re doing a championship”. She suggested that COVID might have changed attitudes: “In the past, you never did it in Olympic year and but I think it is one of the positives from COVID that athletes realized after COVID, in 2022 where we had a World Champs, the Commonwealth Games and Europeans that actually you can do multiple champs in a year and I think there’s a different mindset now from not just coaches but athletes targeting more than one championship in a year”.
The European Championships take place in Rome, 7-12 June.
Great Britain & Northern Ireland Team:
Women
100m
Dina Asher-Smith (Edrick Floréal, Blackheath & Bromley)
Imani-Lara Lansiquot (Ryan Freckleton, Sutton & District), (withdrawn)
Daryll Neita (Marco Airale, Cambridge Harriers)
Amy Hunt (Marco Airale, Charnwood)
200m
Daryll Neita (Marco Airale, Cambridge Harriers) (only racing 100m)
400m
Laviai Nielsen (Tony Lester, Enfield & Haringey)
Victoria Ohuruogu (Newham & Essex Beagles)
800m
Alex Bell (Andrew Henderson, Leeds)
Keely Hodgkinson (Trevor Painter, Leigh)
Erin Wallace (Trevor Painter, Giffnock North)
1500m
Georgia Bell (Trevor Painter, Belgrave)
Jemma Reekie (Jon Bigg, Kilbarchan)
Katie Snowden (Stephen Haas, Herne Hill)
5000m
Izzy Fry (Sonia McGeorge, Newbury)
Amy-Eloise Neale (Rob Denmark, Wakefield)
Hannah Nuttall (Helen Clitheroe, Charnwood)
10000m
Megan Keith (Ross Cairns, Inverness)
Eilish McColgan (Liz Nuttall, Dundee Hawkhill)
Jessica Warner-Judd (Mick Judd, Blackburn)
100mH
Cindy Sember (Chris Johnson, Woodford Green Essex Ladies)
400mH
Jessie Knight (Marina Armstrong, Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow)
Lina Nielsen (Tony Lester, Shaftesbury Barnet)
3000m SC
Lizzie Bird (Pat McCurry, Shaftesbury Barnet)
Pole Vault
Holly Bradshaw (Kate Rooney, Blackburn)
Molly Caudery (Scott Simpson, Thames Valley)
High Jump
Morgan Lake (Robbie Grabarz, Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow)
Hammer
Charlotte Payne (Paul Dickenson, Reading)
Anna Purchase (Mohamed Ali Saatara, Notts)
Heptathlon
Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Aston Moore, Liverpool)
Jade O’Dowda (John Lane, Newham & Essex Beagles) – selection subject to Road To Rome rankings eligibility confirmation.
4 x 100m
Dina Asher-Smith (Edrick Floréal, Blackheath & Bromley)
Desiree Henry (Steve Fudge, Enfield & Haringey)
Amy Hunt (Marco Airale, Charnwood)
Imani-Lara Lansiquot (Ryan Freckleton, Sutton & District)
Daryll Neita (Marco Airale, Cambridge Harriers)
Asha Phillip (Amy Deem, Newham and Essex Beagles)
Aleeya Sibbons (Coral Nourrice, Newham and Essex Beagles)
Mixed 4x400m – In addition to athletes selected for Men’s 4x400m
Hannah Kelly (Les Hall, Bolton)
Emily Newnham (Nick Dakin, Shaftesbury Barnet)
Half Marathon
Abbie Donnelly (Rob Lewis, Lincoln Wellington)
Clara Evans (Chris Jones, Pontypridd)
Calli Hauger-Thackery (Hallamshire)
Lauren McNeil (Hallamshire)
Men
100m
Jeremiah Azu (Marco Airale, Cardiff)
Romell Glave (Michael Afilaka, Croydon)
Zharnel Hughes (Glen Mills, Shaftesbury Barnet), (withdrawn)
200m
Jona Efoloko (Ryan Freckleton, Sale Harriers Manchester)
Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake (Ryan Freckleton, Newham and Essex Beagles). (withdrawn)
Jeriel Quainoo (Ryan Freckleton, Blackheath & Bromley)
400m
Charlie Dobson (Leon Baptiste, Colchester)
Alex Haydock-Wilson (Earl Herbert, Windsor Slough Eton and Hounslow)
Matthew Hudson-Smith (Gary Evans, Birchfield), (withdrawn)
800m
Callum Dodds (Matthew Yates, Enfield & Haringey)
Elliot Giles (Jon Bigg, Birchfield)
Thomas Randolph (Craig Winrow, Tamworth)
1500m
Adam Fogg (Cory Leslie, Coventry)
Neil Gourley (Stephen Haas, Giffnock North)
5000m
George Mills (Thomas Dreißigacker, Brighton Phoenix)
Jack Rowe (Tim Eglen, Aldershot Farnham and District)
James West (Helen Clitheroe, Tonbridge)
10000m
Patrick Dever (Andy Bibby, Preston)
Rory Leonard (Andrew Hobdell, Morpeth)
Zakariya Mahamed (Idris Hamud, Southampton)
20k Race Walk
Callum Wilkinson (Robert Heffernan, Enfield & Haringey)
110mH
Andrew Pozzi (Stratford-upon-Avon)
Tade Ojora (Joanna Hayes, Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow)
400mH
Alastair Chalmers (Matt Elias, Guernsey)
3000mSC
Mark Pearce (Luke Gunn, Shaftesbury Barnet)
Zak Seddon (Geoff Wightman, Bracknell)
Long Jump
Jacob Fincham-Dukes (Matt Barton, Leeds)
Discus
Lawrence Okoye (Zane Duquemin, Croydon)
Hammer
Jake Norris (Paul Dickenson, Windsor Slough Eton and Hounslow)
Shot Put
Scott Lincoln (Paul Wilson, City of York)
4 x 100m
Jeremiah Azu (Marco Airale, Cardiff)
Jona Efoloko (Ryan Freckleton, Sale Harriers Manchester)
Romell Glave (Michael Afilaka, Croydon)
Zharnel Hughes (Glen Mills, Shaftesbury Barnet)
Richard Kilty (Gateshead)
Jeriel Quainoo (Ryan Freckleton, Blackheath & Bromley)
4 x 400m
Charlie Carvell (Stewart Marshall, Telford AC)
Lewis Davey (Trevor Painter, Newham & Essex Beagles)
Toby Harries (David Sadkin, Brighton Phoenix)
Alex Haydock-Wilson (Earl Herbert, Windsor Slough Eton and Hounslow)
Michael Ohioze (Craig Cox, Shaftesbury Barnet)
PS As an illustration of the issues with a European Championship in the Olympic year, within 10 days of the team announcement, Zharnel Hughes, Matt Hudson-Smith, Imani Lansquot, and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake withdrawn, and Darryl Neita will run only the 100—not the 200.
