The UK will play host to the continental showpiece for the first time in the event’s history next summer as the continent’s best athletes descend on the second city, with Friday having marked 500 days to go.
No nation has won more medals at the European Athletics Championships than Great Britain, with a total haul of 236 medals, including 124 golds, since the event’s conception in 1934.
The current generation will have the chance to add to that tally at Alexander Stadium next summer, just four years on from when Birmingham hosted the Commonwealth Games, and UK Athletics CEO Buckner believes the event will have a huge impact.
“The European Championships in athletics is one of the biggest events outside the Olympics,” he said. “It’s an event we have a great tradition in and the standard of competition is very high.
“Having the Commonwealth Games here was amazing but I think we can take the sport forward too.
“We’re doing things with the design, the look and the feel of the programme. We want to position athletics at the forefront of British sport and a big event like this, we have a great team behind it and great athletes.
“We can make the sport come across louder, faster and fresher and that’ll engage with everyone, the sport and the people who love but also the wider Birmingham area and British public.”
Birmingham 2026 will also mark the first standalone outdoor athletics event hosted in Britain since the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London.
Olympic champion and UK Athletics President Dame Denise Lewis, who grew up in Wolverhampton, first made her mark in the sport as a Birchfield Harrier, the club whose home is at the Alexander Stadium.
Lewis is looking forward to seeing her home region back in the spotlight and said: “Athletics is very inclusive and as a young person I found my community at Birchfield Harriers.
“For me, just knowing that the opportunity is there to see some of the best athletes in the world coming to the city, it is that touchpoint where we can accelerate people’s ambitions.
“Birmingham in particular knows sport and loves sport, it has hosted the Diamond League there and got a really good turnout, so I am expecting big crowds.
“Big stars will want to compete because the city has a lot to offer and judging by the Commonwealth Games in 2022, people were impressed by the city and the level of competition, and I don’t expect anything different for the Europeans.”
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