I have mixed feelings about this year’s European Athletics Championships. On the one hand, the standard was very high, as it usually is when the Europeans do not coincide with the Olympic Games. When the two competitions are held in the same year, many (perhaps most) of the leading athletes prefer to save themselves for the Olympics and the European Championships consequently become somewhat watered down.
On the other hand, this year’s organisation was far from entirely satisfactory, both in the decisions made before the championships and in those taken while they were under way.( We shall come to those in due course). Take, for instance, the absurd rule concerning qualification races. It was decided that the 12 fastest entrants in the sprint events would proceed directly to the semifinals, while the remaining athletes would have to run in qualifying heats, from which the 12 fastest times would advance. This sounds perfectly reasonable on paper. But reality turned it into a disaster. Birmingham was plagued by strong and changing winds throughout the competition. The three qualifying heats of the women’s 100 m, for example, were run with winds of 3.2, 1.8 and 0.0 m/s respectively. So how exactly are times obtained under such different conditions to be compared? It is hardly surprising that the fastest time of the championships was recorded in the first of those races.
Amy Hunt was the queen of these championships, winning four gold medals: two individually and two in the 4 × 100 m relays. In the 100 m, after a sluggish start, she had to chase Ewa Swoboda all the way to the finish line, winning 11.00 to 11.02, with the surprising Delphine Nkansa third in 11.06. Hunt was more at ease over her speciality distance, the 200 m, which she won in 22.19.
Rhasidat Adeleke made a last-minute comeback from injury, too late to be fully prepared for her speciality event, the 400 m. Nevertheless, she won silver in the 200 m, finishing ahead of Dina Asher-Smith, 22.28 to 22.29, thanks to a powerful finish.
As expected, Great Britain won the women’s 4 × 100 m in 42.05, well clear of Switzerland, in 43.12, and Poland, in 43.15. For the first time in European Championship history, a mixed 4 × 100 m was also held, with a direct final involving the eight best teams. Great Britain took no risks and fielded its strongest possible quartet: Jeremiah Azu, Dina Asher-Smith, Zharnel Hughes and Amy Hunt. They won in a European record of 39.97, becoming only the second sub-40 team in the world. Hunt’s split was an impressive 9.86. Germany and Spain followed in 40.11 and 40.42 respectively.
Marcell Jacobs entered the men’s 100 m final as the clear favourite after recording the fastest semifinal time. Alas, 50 m into the race he had to withdraw because of yet another hamstring injury. R. Glave and J. Azu produced a British one-two, 10.06 to 10.16, with the bronze medal going to O. Ansah in 10.19. Ansah was to demonstrate his superiority in the 200 m, which he won in 19.95, finishing two metres ahead of Hughes, who ran 20.16. A long wait followed while the judges examined the photo-finish. In the end, the bronze medal was shared by E. Desalu and T. Mumenthaler in 20.26, as it proved impossible to separate them even to millisecond precision: both were given 20.251. The 100 m was interesting for another reason: it was the first time I had seen the new replacement rule applied. Hinchliffe had qualified for the final but withdrew because of injury. He was replaced by D. Kopec, who had finished ninth in the semifinals.
Great Britain won the men’s 4 × 100 m in 38.45, ahead of Germany, in 38.64, and Belgium, in 38.70. The Greek team also managed to qualify for the final, finishing sixth in the earlier round.
The women’s 400 m was a very high-level event. Five athletes ran under 50 seconds in the semifinals, with N. Bukowiecka recording a season’s best of 49.57. (Had Mawdsley not injured herself a few weeks before the Europeans, it might have been an excellent opportunity for her to break the 50-second barrier). The final, however, was an entirely different race. H. Jaeger crushed the opposition with a devastating sustained sprint, winning in 49.04, ahead of Bukowiecka, in 50.04, and L. Klaver, in 50.15. L. M. Manuel was a disappointing fourth in 50.86, despite having run 49.81 in the semifinals.
Matthew Hudson-Smith was the favourite for the men’s 400 m title and duly won in 44.17. In the semifinals, however, I had noticed M. A. Kounta, who won his heat in a personal best of 44.38, and I was expecting something good from him in the final. He did not disappoint—one of the rare French athletes to surpass himself—winning silver in 44.40, ahead of J. Phijffers, in 44.41.
Italy won the men’s 4 × 400 m relay after resisting a late assault from Great Britain, 2:59.16 to 2:59.19. Perhaps putting Hudson-Smith on the first leg rather than the anchor was a tactical mistake by the British team. The Netherlands managed to push Belgium out of the medals, 2:59.49 to 2:59.51, thanks to a 43.59 anchor leg by Phijffers. The Dutch did not take any risks in the women’s 4 × 400 m relay, entrusting the anchor to Femke Bol, who ran 49.50. Klaver had also run 49.50 on the second leg. In the end, the Netherlands won in 3:21.10, ahead of Great Britain, in 3:21.68, and Italy, in 3:23.57.
The mixed 4 × 400 m relay was also run as a direct final, with the eight best teams. Once Warholm had completed the first leg for Norway, the Netherlands took the lead through Klaver, despite a superb 50.8 leg by A. Iuel. But on the anchor leg nobody could resist Jaeger’s finish. She brought Norway to gold in 3:09.62, while Great Britain snatched silver from the Dutch, 3:10.47 to 3:10.77.
M. English set a new championship record of 1:43.49 in the men’s 800 m semifinals. Those semifinals also saw the reigning champion, G. Tual, eliminated. English went on to win the final, in which M. Burgin did not participate because of injury and was not replaced—probably because his withdrawal came too late.
I was going to title the paragraph on the women’s 800 m “The Audrey Werro scandal”. On reflection, however, it is clear that Werro herself is not to blame. She fell in the semifinals, and, to my mind, that should have meant that she could not participate in the final. The claim that contact with Bourgoin’s hand caused her fall sounds like a justification invented after the event. (I will not include any link to the several existing videos. You can track them down yourselves and shape your own opinion).
The matter is quite simple. Lord Sebastianhas made it clear that commercial opportunities, broadcasting and sponsorship agreements are of great importance to him. He therefore could not afford to deprive the championships of the race that perhaps everybody was waiting for. (On the other hand, excluding Russian athletes from Athletics, being prepared to oppose the IOC’s decisions concerning their reinstatement, and fighting the Russian appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (all while rejecting the suggestion that this policy is politically motivated, which it plainly is) is something he tries to present as a defence of “the integrity of competition”). Well, I think that the integrity of the competition suffered a serious blow in Birmingham. Werro was allowed to run in the final, Keely Hodgkinson could not respond, and they finished in 1:54.81 and 1:55.01 respectively. Femke Bol was third in 1:55.54. (And, frankly, I wonder whether Bol’s decision to move up to the 800 m was the right one. Admittedly, she was not the winner of the 400 m hurdles. But will she ever win the 800 m? For the time being, she occupies 20th place on the all-time list).
The 1500 m races were rather uneventful. S. Nillessen, wearing a ridiculous nose clip, prevailed in a tactical men’s race in 3:35.70. Two world champions, Josh Kerr and I. Nader, finished sixth and 12th respectively. Georgia Hunter-Bell won the women’s race in 4:07.78, while the reigning champion, A. Guillemot, finished fourth.
The 5000 m marked Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s return to competition, and he did not disappoint. He let the other runners set the pace and, when they all reached the final straight, unleashed his familiar sprint to win in 13:15.29. Gressier, who had looked like the favourite to many (including myself) finished just outside the medals. He did manage to take bronze in the 10000 m, thanks to his finish, in a race dominated by A. Almgren, who won in a championship record of 27:23.44, defeating the reigning champion, D. Lobalu.
N. Battocletti has no serious opposition at European level. She made winning both the 5000 and 10000 m almost a formality, launching her sprint 200–250 m from the finish and leaving nobody capable of following her.
Despite the presence of the world champion, D. Kambundji, the favourites for the women’s 100 m hurdles were P. Skrzyszowska and Nadine Visser. They fought all the way to the finish, after which another long wait ensued while the photo-finish officials tried to separate them.
In the end, the title went to Visser (those who follow my blog know that she is one of my favourite athletes) by a single millisecond: 12.668 to 12.669. (I have written on several occasions about the absurdity of milliseconds, so there is no need to repeat myself here). L. Bapté managed to beat Kambundji to the bronze medal, 12.73 to 12.75.
Like Visser, J. Joseph added the European outdoor title to the indoor one, winning in an underwhelming 13.12 (given the recent progress in the high hurdles). M. Trajkovic reached the final, but some early mistakes over the hurdles prevented him from being competitive, and he had to settle for eighth place.
E. Zapletalova won the women’s 400 m hurdles in 52.91, a time that looks rather ordinary by today’s standards. I had expected something better from Lina Nielsen and A. Iuel, who finished sixth and seventh respectively. On the other hand, I was impressed by the finish of F. Binta Diallo, who took the bronze medal behind E. Newnham, 53.33 to 53.55.
L. Warholm had no serious competition in the men’s 400 m hurdles, winning in a championship record of 46.63. I had noticed E. Agyekum in the semifinals, and he did not disappoint in the final, taking silver in 47.87, ahead of I. Nezir, in 48.26. The latter’s bronze was Turkey’s only medal of the championships.
F. Ruppert, the European record-holder in the 3000 m steeplechase and the only European to have run under eight minutes, won a slow and tactical race in 8:25.33. R. Querinjean provided Luxembourg with its first medal of the championships, taking silver in 8:25.61.
G. F. Krause added a third European gold medal to her collection, following the titles she won in 2016 and 2018. Let us not forget, either, her bronze in 2012 and silver in 2024. A. Finot, who had beaten Krause in Rome in 2024, had to settle for silver this time. Their times were 9:12.69 and 9:14.24 respectively.
I did not follow the marathon from start to finish, but began watching at around 30 km. By then, A. Vainio had established a substantial lead over the chasing group, and it was steadily increasing. She finished in a championship record of 2:22:26, a good five minutes ahead of the silver medallist. And, in case you are wondering, as I was, she is not related to Martti Vainio, the 1978 European 10000 m champion.
Things were different in the men’s race, although A. Petros had taken control shortly after halfway. He did not build a safe lead, however, and the remaining runners actually began to gain on him during the final kilometre. He held on to win in a championship record of 2:09:11, with the first ten athletes arriving less than a minute behind him.
PS1. You know that I do not comment on the race-walking events, but I will make a small exception this time. The new marathon and half-marathon distances were introduced in Birmingham, for the first time at an official championship. M. Pérez set a new world record of 1:30:06 in the half-Marathon.
PS2. People have been aslking about examples of bad organisation. I can give you two images
is a screenshot from the third morning. The three words ISO MELT REEL is video-techncal jargon meaning roughly a highlights video made from the camera’s raw footage. Now, why did we, spectators, had to see this, it's something I have no answer to (apart from sloppiness on behalf of the organisers).
No comments:
Post a Comment