Y e INSIDE TRACK - European Athletics...Farah won the 5000m gold (not forgetting Greg Rutherford’s...

INSIDE TRACKYour Sport for Life

Newsletter of European Athletics

2 | 12 October

Your Sport for Life

IMPRESSUM

European AthleticsAssociation Européenned’Athlétisme

President: Hansjörg Wirz Vice Presidents: Jose Luis de CarlosKarel PilnyJean GraciaDirector General: Christian Milz

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WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT

In one of the most memorable years for athletics for as long as I can remember, the standards were set very high for the 2012 European Athlete of the Year and Rising Star Awards. The winners had to achieve something truly special in 12 months that included the inaugural biennial European Athletics Championships, the London 2012 Olympic Games and the World Indoor Championships, among myriad other IAAF Diamond League and European Athletics meetings.

In Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis of Great Britain & N.I., we have two excellent athletes who delighted the crowds at the Olympic Stadium during London 2012. On an extraordinary Saturday evening, and more specifically during a breathtaking 45 minutes or so, Ennis won the Olympic heptathlon gold and Farah won the 5000m gold (not forgetting Greg Rutherford’s long jump gold as well!). Farah returned one week later for his second gold medal in the 10000m.

Truth be told, these two were the clear winners in the poll of fans, media, Member Federations and the expert poll. Things were closer in the Rising Star category, with Angelica Bengtsson and Pavel Maslák prevailing in the end. And thoroughly deserved they were in coming out on top after their respective years on the track.

They will be recognised at the European Athletics Awards Night in St. Julians, Malta, along with the winners of the European Athletics Innovation Awards. The European Athletics Innovation Awards were created in 1998 to

encourage research and the sharing of new ideas leading to the promotion and development of the sport of athletics.

This year’s contest, the eighth edition of the biennial competition, attracted a record 46 entry files with authors from 21 countries. I congratulate Norway’s Charlotte Svensen who has won the top prize in the 2012 European Athletics Innovation Awards for her project entitled “Ung:Leder – To Create the Volunteers of Tomorrow”, and all the other winners of the five categories of the award.

We also recognise for the second year after its inaugural year in 2011 the coaches who dedicate their lives to the sport. The award is given to coaches whose athletes win gold medals at senior European Athletics Championships (Outdoors, Indoors, Cross Country, Mountain Running) and to coaches nominated by their federations based on the criteria “excellence in coaching”.

Tina Torop (EST) and Slavko Črne (SLO) will receive the first two European Athletics Coaching Awards of 2012 as the representatives of the 51 winners from 30 countries. The remaining 49 winners will receive their awards in national ceremonies organised by their federations.

After such an incredible year for athletics in 2012, I am sure our conversations in Malta will be dominated by the Helsinki 2012 European Athletics Championships and London 2012. I would like to put on record my thanks for the efforts and

Time to build on a fantastic year for athletics

Hansjörg Wirz | President, European Athletics

Newsletter of European Athletics 2|12 INSIDE TRACK2 www.european-athletics.org

Your Sport for LifeWORD FROM THE PRESIDENT

engagement of our Member Federations to make the Championships so successful. It is also with great pleasure that I congratulate our federations on the good results they achieved. The new champions, all the medal winners and not to forget the numerous national records, final places and personal best performances have all made their own impact and contributed to attracting the public to our sport.

I am also pleased to say that our International Partners and television partners have expressed their great satisfaction. In return, I take this opportunity to thank our principal sponsor SPAR, alongside OMEGA, Le GRUYÈRE AOC and EUROVISION in their unstinting support in the development of the biennial European Athletics Championships.

During Helsinki 2012 we could show that during the time of the football European championships and other important sports events athletics can nonetheless touch the hearts of the public in a significant way.

I would also like to thank the Helsinki 2012 local organising committee for their efforts and for the different new elements that were implemented. The event was enjoyed by crowds of more than 33,000 spectators per day, with over 269,000 fans in total attending the five-day championships.

There have been an important number of positive signs and several statements since Helsinki 2012, including those from some of the coaches and managers who in the beginning were opposed to the championships in the Olympic year and who have now changed their mind after seeing its impact. They expressed their satisfaction and are now convinced of the importance of this platform for the future.

The values which have been created are very positive, but for the future we need the solidarity of all Member Federations in order to be consistent in what the championships delivers in terms of quality. In addition, we have to look carefully at the weaknesses emanating from the championship. All these elements are to be discussed during the days of the European Athletics Convention, culminating with the celebratory European Athletics Awards Night.

The championship events covered in the agreement include the Zurich 2014 European Athletics Championships, the Amsterdam 2016 European Athletics Championships, the Göteborg 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships and the Prague 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships.

OMEGA will also provide its services for the European Athletics Team Championships, SPAR European Cross Country Championships, European Athletics U23 Championships and European Athletics Junior Championships during this four-year period.

The new agreement between the Swiss watchmaker and the governing body for athletics in Europe further strengthens a partnership first put in place with a contract that covered the period 2008-2012.

Commenting on the renewal arrangement, Stephen Urquhart, the president of OMEGA, said, "In view of OMEGA's longstanding relationship with the world of athletics crowned by our role as Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games since 1932, we are pleased that we will again extend our expertise and worldwide resources to European Athletics.”

Hansjörg Wirz, European Athletics president, said, "We are extremely happy to continue our partnership with OMEGA for our programme of

championships events. OMEGA is one of the most renowned global brands, one that fits perfectly with our values, and this agreement clearly shows the attractiveness of our events to the commercial market.”

Christian Milz, Director General of European Athletics, said, "OMEGA provides a first-class technical service at our championship events and we are happy they will continue to provide this valued service through an exciting period of sustained growth and development for our sport on the continent.”

Since 1932 OMEGA has been the Official Timekeeper of 24 Olympic Games and has extended its agreement with the International Olympic Committee through 2020. From its creation OMEGA's history has been replete with examples of innovation, record precision, audacious design, pioneering spirit and a tradition of excellence in watchmaking.

OMEGA-European Athleticsrenew partnership for 2013 –2016

European Athletics is pleased to announce that an agreement has been reached with OMEGA, the manufacturer of prestige Swiss watches, to continue as the official timekeeper and data handling partner for European Athletics through 2013 –2016.

INSIDE TRACK 2|12 Newsletter of European Athletics 3www.european-athletics.org

Double delight for Farah

Farah captivated the 80,000 capacity crowd in the Olympic Stadium with two wins executed in spectacular fashion with blistering finishes over the last lap to become the first Briton to win Olympic titles in long distance running events.

He became the seventh man, and fifth European, to do the distance double in the history of the Olympics but the first to achieve such a feat in front of a home audience.

Farah, 29, opened his account with a tactically near-perfect 10,000m to cross the line in 27: 30.42, having first pushed hard with three laps to go and then unleashing a 53.48 final 400m which left all his rivals trailing in his wake.

Despite subsequent European and world titles, that win finally extinguished the anguish that Farah had felt four years ago in Beijing, when he failed to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games 5000m final. “I just can’t believe it, the crowd got so much behind me and was getting louder and louder. I’ve never experienced anything like this, this is the best moment of my life,” Farah famously reflected after winning the third of a British hat-trick of titles within an hour.

However, the crowd got louder and even Farah had to admit that it did get even better on the final night of athletics in the Olympic stadium when he added the 5000m title to his ever-growing list of honours.

He became the first man to simultaneously hold the triumvirate of European, world and Olympic titles over the distance.

After a slow first 10 laps, Farah increased the tempo sharply over the final kilometre, covering the last lap in 52.94 to shake off the all his opponents.

He crossed the line in the relatively modest time of 13:41.66 but realistically what was on the clock didn’t matter as he was greeted with a noise that has possibly never been equalled at an athletics meeting.

“This is my time. This is my home. I wanted to perform for my people,” exulted Farah.It was fitting that he got two gold medals as it was well-known that his wife Tania, with whom he was able to celebrate his successes on the track, was expecting twin daughters

Aisha and Amani arrived just a few weeks after his London 2012 successes on 25 August to complete his happiness.Farah said he wanted to get a win in london for each of his then-unborn twins and their names have been inscribed on his gold medals. “If I only had one, the other would feel left out,” he joked subsequently.

However, for the first few months of the 2012, such an emotional and climactic end to the year didn’t seem possible.

He won only one of his four indoor competitions and, although he did set a European indoor two miles best, he also finished out of the medals in fourth place over 3000m at the World Indoor Championships.

Once the outdoor season started though, Farah showed his true colours.

He won over 5000m at the Diamond League meeting in Eugene in 12:56.98 in early June, the best time by a European runner this year.

Farah then defended his European 5000m title in Helsinki to become the first man to win consecutive gold medals over the distance at the European Athletics Championships.

However, all that was a prelude for the events of August.

“I dreamt of becoming an Olympic champion and to do it twice in your country with a stadium of 80,000 people shouting your name, it doesn’t get better than that; then for my wife to have two healthy little girls, there’s no way to describe it.” added a delighted Farah shortly after the arrival of his daughters.

Mo Farah is just the second athlete to be named as the European Athlete of the Year for a second consecutive year – following on from Swedish triple jumper Christian Olsson in 2003 and 2004 – after his phenomenal double success over 5000m and 10,000m at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Mo Farah fact file

1983 23 March – Born in Mogadishu, Somalia.

1993 Moves to Britain.

2001 Wins the European Athletics Junior Championships 5000m title, silver in the SPAR European Cross Country Championships junior men’s race.

2003 European Athletics U23 Championships 5000m silver medallist.

2005 European Athletics U23 Championships 5000m silver medallist.

2006 European Athletics Championships 5000m silver medallist, wins at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.

2008 SPAR European Cross Country Championships silver medallist.

2009 Wins the European Athletics Indoor Championships 3000m title, SPAR European Cross Country Championships silver medallist.

2010 Wins both the 5000m and 10,000m gold medals at the European Athletics Championships.

2011 Wins the World Championships 5000m title, silver in the 10,000m; European indoor 5000m and European 10000m records.

2012 Wins 5000m and 10,000m gold medals in his home city and in front of his family at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Also becomes the first man to defend his European Athletics Championships 5000m crown.


Your Sport for Life AWARDS NIGHT 2012

Ennis' star shines ever brighter

For her superb triumph, achieved despite the burden of being the poster girl of London 2012, the multi-events superstar has been named as the 2012 winner of the women's European Athlete of the Year Award.

Her score at the London 2012 Olympic Games, in a British record of 6955 points, moved her up to number four on the European all-time list and fifth on the global rankings.

Into the bargain, after her first British and Commonwealth record of the year when she recorded 6906 points at the famous multi-events meeting in the Austrian town of Götzis in May, she became only the second women to score over 6900 twice in the same year and the first since 1988.

Earlier this year, Ennis had also given notice that she was in great shape when she took second place in the World Indoor Championships pentathlon with 4965 points, a tally only ever beaten by two other women.

Naturally though, what will be remembered more than anything about Ennis' year is her magnificent Olympic victory, with three personal bests in the seven events.

Her two days of success came as a sharp contrast to four years ago. Ennis was potentially a medal contender after finishing fourth at the 2007 World Championships but then suffered a stress fracture in her right foot early in the summer of 2008 and had the frustration of watching the Beijing Olympics on television.

In London, it was evident from the outset that there were no concerns of any description.

Ennis started in sensational fashion in front of a capacity 80,000 spectators in the Olympic Stadium on the opening morning of the athletics programme when she flew to a 100m hurdles time of 12.54, shaving two-hundredths off the British record and producing a time that was still to stand at the end of the season as the quickest run by a European hurdler.

Ennis then went over 1.86m in the high jump to keep her in the lead. Lithuania’s Austra Skujyte sent her shot out to 17.31m for a world heptathlon best to briefly deprive Ennis of the lead despite a near-best effort of 14.28m.

However, roared on by the crowd, Ennis responded with an outstanding 200m in a personal best of 22.83 to regain pole position at the end of the first day and with a total of 4158 points overnight.

Ennis started the second day with an excellent long jump of 6.48m and in the javelin, which has been a weak point in her repertoire the past, she came up with a splendid personal best of 47.49m to have a massive lead of 188 points ahead of the final event.

Only disaster could have prevented Ennis from getting the gold medal but instead of comfortably cruising around two laps of the track to confirm her victory, she decided to attack her own records and, to the crowd's wild delight on a night when Britain won three gold medals in less than an hour, she won the 800m in 2:08.65.

“After all the hard work, and after the disappointment in Beijing 2008, I am just so happy. I just had to give it everything at the end. I just wanted

to make sure I gave them something and brought it all home,” said Ennis.

"I told myself at the start that I'm only going to have one moment to do this in front of a crowd in London and I just wanted to give them a good show,” she added, putting into words what everyone in the stadium and millions around the world in front of their television sets had seen with their own eyes.

Five years ago Jessica Ennis picked up the inaugural European Athletics Rising Star Award and since then she has won European and world titles in the heptathlon but in 2012 she became an even bigger star in the sport by taking the Olympic title in her specialist event.

Jessica Ennis fact file1986 28 January – Born in Sheffield.

2005 European Athletics Junior Championships heptathlon gold medallist.

2006 Commonwealth Games heptathlon bronze medallist. Eighth in the European Athletics Championships heptathlon.

2007 European Athletics Rising Star of the Year. Fourth in the World Championships heptathlon, equals the British high jump record of 1.95m. Sixth in the European Athletics Indoor Championships pentathlon.

2009 Wins heptathlon gold medal at the World Championships.

2010 Wins heptathlon gold medal at the European Athletics Championships. World Indoor Championships pentathlon gold medallist

2011 Wins the World Championships heptathlon silver medal.

2012 Wins heptathlon gold medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games with British record 6955 points. Runs 100m hurdles national record of 12.54. She also won the World Indoor Championships pentathlon silver medal.


Your Sport for LifeAWARDS NIGHT 2012

“My goal this summer is not only to win a medal in Helsinki and do well at the Olympics but to also to improve the national record at 200m and maybe the 400m as well,” the 21-year-old sprinter told European Athletics in the wake of vastly exceeding his initial expectations and making World Indoor Championships final.

It proved to be an accurate summery of what he was to go on to achieve after being the only European to be involved in the final over two laps of the track at the Istanbul’s Ataköy Arena in March, after having set a Czech indoor 400m record with 46.14 in the Belgian city of Gent in February.

Despite having had some success over 200m as a junior, making the 2009 European Athletics Junior Championships and 2010 World Championships finals before getting on the podium with a 200m bronze medal at the 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships, his success under cover confirmed to Maslák that his talents were better suited to the longer distance.

The decision to move up to 400m, never fully confirmed until the spring, was shown to be the right one when he made a big improvement to the almost-ancient Czech 400m record of 45.77, which had stood since 1978, when he ran 45.31 in

his first outing over one lap of the track this summer in Prague in early May.

In his next 400m race, at the European Athletics Outdoor Premium Meeting inTorino on 8 June, he made a further improvement to 45.17.

However, his Italian outing was just a prelude to the most important victory of his career when he triumphed at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki later in June, the cool evening conditions in the Helsinki capital keeping his winning time to 45.24.

Maslák was then back in record-breaking form at the Olympic Games, running his third national record when he clocked 44.91 in his heat, the first Czech runner under the elite 45-second barrier, before finishing fifth in his semi-final in 45.15.

In some respects, after raising expectations in his heat, his second race in London 2012 was the only mild disappointment of the summer, but Maslák was back breaking records again by the end of the season. He got the last item on his ‘wish list’ and improved upon Jirí Vojtik’s four-year-old former national 200m record of 20.60, which he had equalled in June, with 20.59 at the Czech club championships in Tabor on 8 September.

Maslák’s targets for 2013 are already starting to take shape.

He will obviously be looking to make a further improvement in the 400m and perhaps challenge the best of the world at next year’s World Championships in Moscow, where he might also be a dark horse for a medal.

On the continental stage Maslák will also still be eligible to run at the 2012 European Athletics U23 Championships, which will be held in the Finnish city of Tampere, and that event could have the rare privilege of being graced by an athlete who has already won a European senior title.

The 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Göteborg, which will be staged between 1–3 March, also beckons and he could start as the 400m favourite.

The big question is, what hairstyle will he be sporting on his travels throughout Europe next year?

“I had a Mohican when I first broke the Czech 400m record in May, I had a ying-and-yang dyed into my hair in Helsinki. I didn’t have time to get a special style done for the Olympics but I asked a team mate to put some zigzags in. I now intend to turn up to every major championship with a new hairstyle,” said the effervescent sprinter.

Czech Republic’s 2012 European Athletics Championships 400m gold medallist Pavel Maslák started the summer with a list of targets and by end of the season he had ticked every box.

Pavel Maslák fact file1991 21 February - Born in

Havíøov, Czech Republic.

2009 Finishes fifth in the European Athletics Junior Championships 200m but helps Czech Republic to a 4x100m silver medal.

2010 200m finalist at the World Junior Championships.

2011 European Athletics U23 Championships 200m bronze medallist.

2012 Wins 400m gold medal at the European Athletics Championships. Breaks Czech 200m and 400m records, the latter on three occasions. World Indoor Championships 400m finalist.

Maslák ticks the boxes as the European Athletics Rising Star



Angelica Bengtsson fact file1993 8 July – Born in Väckelsång, Sweden. Her

father is a good standard javelin thrower and she competes in gymnastics as a youngster.

2009 Wins at the World Youth Championships in Italy.

2010 Wins gold medals at the European Youth Olympic Trials, World Junior Championships and Youth Olympic Games.

2011 Sets an absolute world junior record of 4.63m indoors in February and then wins at the European Athletics Junior Championships during the summer, where she clears a world junior outdoor best of 4.57m.

2012 Defends her World Junior Championships title, makes the final of the European Athletics Championships. Also clears a world junior outdoor best of 4.58m.

Bengtsson ends her junior career as poll favourite

B e n g t s s o n becomes the first Swedish athlete of either gender to be voted as a European Athletics Rising Star and it is an honour that is fully deserved.

After winning at the 2009 World Youth Championships, Bengtsson has since dominated her event in the junior ranks and won every title on offer.

The following year, she won at 2010 World Junior Champ ion sh ip s while still just 17 and then triumphed at

the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore later that summer.

In 2011, she focussed her attention on a continental title and got the gold medal at the European Athletics Junior Championships in Tallinn, clearing what was then a world outdoor junior best of 4.57m.

This summer, she travelled to Barcelona to defend her World Junior Championships title and did so in style with a clearance at 4.50m before just failing at 4.60m, bringing the curtain down on her junior career by finishing 20 centimetres better than anyone else in the Catalan city.In addition to her undoubted ability to rise to the occasion at major championships, demonstrated by her impressive collection of gold medals, she has also scaled the heights when the pressure is off.

Her absolute world junior record of 4.63m was achieved under cover in February 2011 in front of her family and friends in Stockholm and this summer she added a centimetre to her world junior outdoor best when she scaled a Swedish senior record 4.58m at another Swedish venue in Sollentuna.

Bengtsson has also started to make her presence felt among the seniors this summer, competing in several Diamond League meetings and she also made the final at the 2012 European Athletics Championships.

Her outstanding performances this year came despite an uncertain start to 2012.She had pencilled in an indoor campaign, and had hoped to go even higher than in 2011, but it wasn’t to be.

“I wanted to do my best indoors instead but I suffered an inflammation at the back of my knee, which kept me from running at all for six months,” she explained to European Athletics during the summer. “In May, I was able to run again and one week after my first pole vault session I started to compete. I’m really happy that my knee injury hasn’t seemed to affect my performance at all; even more than that, I may be stronger now after all the gym work I did while I couldn’t run.”

Next year she enters the senior ranks proper, although she already has had some experience of what is required to compete in such company, having also competed at the 2012 Olympic Games as well as across the border in Helsinki this summer.

“In the last two years (2010 and 2011) I had a hard time competing against the seniors, mainly because they are experienced and I’m not. Now, I think I’ve started to make my way in senior competitions,” she added recently.

The next big date in her diary is the 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships, which will be on home territory in Göteborg.

She is not so familiar with the famous Scandinavium indoor arena that will host the Championships from 1-3 March but she is already a big favourite with the city's enthusiastic and knowledgeable fans.

Bengtsson won at the famous annual Finnkampen – Sweden v Finland –meeting in September in the stadium that hosted the 2006 European Athletics Championships to start to cement her place in the hearts of Swedish athletics supporters.

After finishing fourth for the last two years, Swedish pole vault prodigy Angelica Bengtsson finally topped the European Athletics Rising Star polls to become the 2012 winner of the women’s award.


Your Sport for LifeAWARDS NIGHT 2012

Celebrating Excellence in Coaching

Promoting young volunteers

Torop and Crne were selected to collect their awards in Malta by a three-member jury which included European Athletics Council members Frank Hensel and Vadim Zelichenok and the President of the European Athletics Coaches Association, Frank Dick.

The remaining 49 winners will receive their awards in national ceremonies organised by their federations.

Among this year’s winners is the two-time Olympic champion in the javelin, Jan Zelezny (CZE), who coached this year’s European Champion in the same event Viteslav Vesely (CZE).

The award is given to coaches whose athletes win gold medals at senior European Athletics Championships

(Outdoors, Indoors, Cross Country, Mountain Running) and to coaches nominated by their federations based on the criteria “excellence in coaching”. A coach may win the award one time only.

The first coaches recognised with the award were those whose athletes won at the 2010 European Athletics Championships in Barcelona. Including this year’s winners, the award has gone to a total of 145 coaches from 39 countries.

Tina Torop (EST) and Slavko Crne (SLO) will receive the first two European Athletics Coaching Awards of 2012 as the representatives of the 51 winners from 30 countries during the European Athletics Awards Night in St Julians, Malta, on 13 October. AHMED Fuzz GBR

ALPTEKIN Ihsan TUR

ARSTAMYAN Arto ARM

AUSTRUPS Andis LAT

BERGMAN Roland SWE

BEZDICEK Vladimir SVK

BONOMI Roberto ITA

CHEMERISOV Nikolay RUS CRNE Slavko SLO

CUNEYT Yuksel TUR

DOUGLAS Troy NED

EVSTRATOV Viacheslav RUS

FLORCZAK Uwe GER

GIDEWALL Oscar SWE

GIRARD Patricia FRA

GOLDMANN Werner GER

HAFSTEINSSON Vesteinn ISL

ILIEVA Sonia LUX

INGEBRIGTSEN Gjert NOR

IVANČIČ Ivan CRO

JOHANSSON Anneli SWE

KALISZEWSKI Krzyszof POL

KLEVTSOV Sergey RUS

KREMER Thomas GER

KUPKA Dalibor CZE

LANG Sven GER

LONGUEVRE Renaud FRA

LUBENSKY Zdenek CZE

LYTVYNOV Iaroslav UKR

MINICHIELLO Toni GBR

MITCHELL Dennis USA

NAZAROV Andrei EST

NAZARYAN Gohar ARM

NÉMETH Zsolt HUN

NIKOLOV Atanas BUL

NOVIKOV Anatoliy UKR

OLSZEWSKI Henryk POL

PERICOLI Roberto ITA

PFAFF Dan CAN

POPOVA Elena RUS

PTACNIK Frantisek CZE

RISTIC Marko MNE

SAMEIRO ARAUJO

Maria POR

SANTA Carol ROM

SCHNEIDER Klaus GER

SKENDER Mehmed BIH

TOROP Tiina EST

TORRALBO LANZA

Ramón ESP

YALOUZ Ghani FRA

ZELEZNY Jan CZE

2012 European Athletics Coaching Award Winners

The award was announced by Dr Sylvia Barlag, European Athletics Council member and the chair of the awards jury. “I want to congratulate Charlotte and her team for an exciting project that shows yet another way that athletics can add value to people’s lives,” said Barlag. “Her paper describes a successful project that prepares young people to take on leadership roles in Norway’s athletics clubs and develops skills that are important for professional careers in many other fields.”

“The jury was impressed that the project creatively addressed a fundamental need of the sport – volunteers to run its organisations and events – and produced a model that can be used by other federations.”

Svensen’s award and a cash prize of CHF 10,000 will be presented at the European Athletics Awards Night in St Julians, Malta, on 13 September.

This year’s contest, the eighth edition of the biennial competition, attracted a record 46 entry files by authors from 21 countries.

Judging was conducted by an international panel of experts and the evaluation criteria were “quality” and “relevance to athletics”.

The category winners were:•Coaching – “New Insights into Sprint

Biomechanics and Determinants of Elite 100m Performance” by Jean-Benoit Morin (FRA), Pierre Samozino (FRA), Pascal Edouard (FRA)

•Technology – “Automatic Race Start Detecting Signal for Hearing Impaired Athletes” by Valentín Rocandio (ESP), Antonio Cid (ESP)

•Sustainability – “Introducing, Developing, and Implementing of Sustainability Projects in Athletic Club Velenje” by Luka Steiner (SLO)

•Promotion (joint 1st place) –“Improving Competition Organisation Using Web Application” by Michele Fortunato (ITA) and “Young Leader – To Create the Volunteers of Tomorrow” by Charlotte Svensen (NOR)

•Open Category – “Running with Poles: An Efficient Training Method for Eliminating Overstraining of Athlete’s Feet” by Aleš Tvrzník (CZE), Milan Kutek (CZE).

Norway’s Charlotte Svensen has won the top prize in the 2012 European Athletics Innovation Awards for her project entitled “Ung: Leder – To Create the Volunteers of Tomorrow”.

Charlotte Svensen



Promoting young volunteers

Like never before, the focus in 2012 was on European athletics.

We – the European Athletics Family – came together during an extremely important year for the sport. We concluded the most important event in our history –the Helsinki 2012 European Athletics Championships – and just a few weeks later we reconvened on European “home soil” in London for an Olympic Games.

With Helsinki, we witnessed a great start to the biennial European Athletics Championships that will provide athletes with a more regular stage on which to become top-level champions.

This Olympic-year European Athletics Championships and ones in the future will ensure that athletes in Europe will compete more often in a flagship event during the peak of their careers. A total of 1,342 European athletes competed in Helsinki whereas we have 400-600 fewer athletes compete at an Olympics or World Championships.

We have provided more chances of success for athletes – and all athletes want to become a champion – world, Olympic or European. It is obvious that there are 100 percent European medal winners at our continental championships – compared to about 35 percent of European medal winners at the Olympics. The public, television, media, institutions and governments recognise the importance of this success.

Off the track in Helsinki, we saw the successful staging of the European Athletics-UNESCO Young Leaders Forum in a perfect environment – although perhaps a little bit far away from the Helsinki Olympic Stadium venue. We will bear this in mind for the next Young Leaders Forum in Zurich in 2014.

A number of European athletes went on to reproduce, in some cases improve, their Helsinki 2012 performance six weeks later at the Olympic Games in London, most notably Mo Farah, who won the 5000m gold in Helsinki and doubled it by winning the 5000m and 10,000m gold in front of his home crowd in London.

Same can be said about the likes of Renaud Lavillenie, Robert Harting, Krisztian Pars, Sandra Perkovic. The athletes from Europe once again proved themselves as the dominant force in the sport winning a total of 49 medals, representing a total of 34.3 % of total medals won in London.

I can vividly recollect a conversation with Dr Gordon Cambell, managing director of our long-lasting international partner SPAR International, where he narrated his chance encounter with a bunch of athletics fans from Northern England in a bar in London during the Olympic Games. Due to an unprecedented demand for athletics tickets during the Games, none of them could manage to get any track and field tickets. When they got to know that Gordon had the good fortune to watch athletics at the Olympic Stadium, they said: “You’ve got to be the luckiest man on earth; we will give a right arm to watch athletics at the Olympic Stadium.”

When Gordon told them that the 2013 European Athletics Team Championships will bring together a number of Olympic champions, competing as a team, to their vicinity in Gateshead next June, they were thrilled. They said they will make sure they do not miss out on this opportunity to see the stars next summer.

The challenge ahead of us is to capitalise on the interest level in athletics that gained great momentum during the Games. We need to ensure that athletics fans do not drift away from the sport due to lack of awareness of athletics events happening around them.

On the European Athletics side, Göteborg 2013 and Gateshead 2013 will be milestones to see how strongly athletics is ingrained in the mind of sports fans, existing athletics fans and new alike. Thus, both the local organising committees of these two events and European Athletics must work on ways on how to maintain the momentum from London 2012.

Besides, there are a number of other one-day meetings like the Diamond League, European Athletics Outdoor Meetings, where they will get the opportunity to see the best in the world in action.

One of the ways is to continue in our adaptation to new media consumption

habits. We saw in London and in recent events in all sports how quickly the habits of people change in relation to the media. We are noticing that more and more of our audience is moving away from the “traditional” method of getting their information from our website and instead are following us on social networks.

Göteborg 2013 is one such event where we hope to see some exciting developments in this area – and in other areas such as in assisting fans following the action in the stadium via such innovations as “push notifications” on mobile applications.

We will, of course, discuss the first edition of the biennial European Athletics Championships at the European Athletics Convention, to look at ways to make it even more successful and appealing. It was a long and sometimes painful procedure to create this new competition platform but the result shows how important it will be for the future of European Athletics.

We already have planned a Helsinki debrief workshop with our television partner EBU and all its most important and influential national members. The High Performance Forum and Member Federation Leaders Forum at the Convention are also times to reflect, from the perspective of the federations and European Athletics.

As European Athletics Family, the onus is on us to capitalise on the momentum that 2012 has given to the sport of athletics. Athletics fans don’t need to wait until Rio 2016 to witness the magic of the sport again. We not only need to provide top quality track and field action to our fans on a regular basis but also need to keep them informed, engaged and connected with the sport consistently.

Capitalisingon the athletics feel-good factor

By Christian Milz, Director General of European Athletics


Your Sport for LifeDIRECTOR GENERAL'S STATE OF THE SPORT

The compact five-day format of the Championships provided the platform for some fantastic performances, from both established stars and also an exciting emerging generation of European athletes, and proved to be the prefect appetiser for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Helsinki 2012 was given the best possible start by a man who has risen through the ranks of European Athletics over the years, the 2011 European Athlete of the Year Mo Farah, who has paid fulsome tribute to the role that the continent's leading events have played in his formation as one of the world's best distance runners.

The Londoner, and current 5000m world champion, was beaten by the narrowest of margins over this distance at the Championships in Göteborg six years ago before returning in 2010 to win in Barcelona, where he doubled up and also took the 10,000m gold.

With the spotlight on him on the first night, the only final of the opening evening, Farah did not disappoint in the defence of his title.

He was at the back of the field during the opening laps and then moved up when the pace increased before, with a blistering final 400m, sprinting away to triumph in 13:29.91, almost two seconds quicker than Germany's Arne Gabius, who was second in 13:31.83.

"It means so much to win a European title again because you never want to take things for granted," said Farah. "I came to Helsinki because the European Athletics Championships are an important event in the calendar and to me."

Farah provided an inspiration for every single one of the athletes in action from 48 European countries during the Championships.

Olha Saladuha, Ukraine's 2010 triple jump champion, who was subsequently named by the Association of International Sports Press (AIPS) as the female athlete of the Championships, not only retained her title but did so in considerable style with a personal best of 14.99m, the best distance recorded during the summer.

Her effort was 17 centimetres more than she had recorded in Barcelona two years ago, and five centimetres further than she had jumped in Korea the previous summer to win the world title.

Saladuha registered her jaw-dropping effort with her first jump, following it up with a mark of 14.84m and concluding the contest with 14.89m, just in case anyone was in any doubt about how determined she was to remain European champion.

The same competitive philosophy was demonstrated by the AIPS male athlete of

Helsinki 2012 European Athletics Championships proved to be the perfect start for the new two-year cycle of European Athletics' flagship event.

Helsinki 2012:

Great beginning for a new tradition in athletics

An emotional Ivet Lalova of Bulgaria after winning the women’s 100m final.


Your Sport for Life HELSINKI 2012

the Championships, pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie.

The Frenchman also successfully defended his European title in Helsinki, despite having to literally rise to the occasion and clear what he admitted afterwards were unexpected heights.

Having won in Barcelona with 5.85m, Lavillenie found himself pushed in Helsinki to make successive first-time clearances of 5.87m. 5.92m and 5.97m - just a mere four centimetres short of his 2009 outdoor best of 6.01m - by the enduring challenge of three hugely competitive German jumpers.

Of that trio, 34-year-old Bjorn Otto took the silver as he recorded a personal best of 5.92m to keep up the pressure on Lavillenie right the way until the end.

After winning, Lavillenie was standing on top of the 2012 world rankings after

Helsinki and left the Finnish capital in an ideal frame of mind for the forthcoming Olympics, where he was to be rewarded with a golden bounty.

Saladuha and Lavillenie were not the only ones to use Helsinki as means of stating their obvious Olympic medal ambitions.

In the men's hammer, for instance, Hungary's Krisztian Pars had never won a major title since taking gold at the 2001 European Athletics Junior Championships, although he had earned European bronze and world silver in 2010 and 2011 respectively, but won his first European senior title with an effort of 79.72m that was more than two metres better than anyone else could manage.

Like Lavillenie, Pars was another European champion who went on to triumph London.

A similar statement of intent that was to

prove prophetic came in the women's discus with Croatia's Sandra Perkovic retaining her continental crown with an effort of 67.62m before getting her country's first Olympic gold medal in athletics.

Poland's 2009 women's hammer world champion Anita Wlodarczyk wanted to progress to the London 2012 as the European champion, which she did with a throw of 74.29m, not only for the honour itself but also put behind her the memories of a difficult 2011 when she was battled with injuries and failed to find her best form.

Germany's prodigious 21-year-old world champion David Storl sent out a clear warning around the globe as he crushed all the opposition with two season's bests of 21.19m and 21.58m which sandwiched an effort that a marginal foul but which thudded clearly into territory beyond the 22 metres line.

Christophe Lemaitre of France retains his European 100m title.Olha Saladuha of Ukraine

Athletes say 'kiitos' to fans at the event park


Your Sport for LifeHELSINKI 2012

Another German thrower to impose his authority in Helsinki was Storl's team mate Robert Harting.

The two-time discus world champion produced the two biggest throws of a world-class competition, which included many of the world's top throwers including Estonia's 2008 Olympic champion Gerd Kanter.

Kanter eventually earned silver with a fifth round effort of 66.53m but Harting finished almost two metres in front of his regular rival when his fourth round throw sailed out to 68.30m.

Vitezslav Vesely claimed the European javelin title and along with that a feeling of satisfaction in taking the only accolade his coach, Czech legend Jan Zelezny, never won with a best effort of 83.72m in a competition which saw local boy Ari Mannio, maintain Finland’s reputation as a javelin nation by taking the bronze medal, the host country's only medal of the Championships.

The silver medal went to a man who should feature at many European Athletics Championships to come, Russia's 20-year-old Valeriy Iordan, who was second with 82.63m.

Renaud Lavillenie of France celebrates his pole vault gold. Germany’s David Storl in action.Sandra Perkovic of Croatia screams with joy after winning the discus gold.

Iordan's compatriot Irina Davydova won the 400m hurdles to consolidate her growing reputation around the world as she sped over the barriers in a personal best of 53.77m, at the time the best in the world this year. In a thrilling final, Davydova was pushed by the three Czech hurdlers, including Denisa Rosolova who took silver in a personal best of 54.24.

Great Britain’s Robbie Grabarz staged a remarkable comeback from a horrible season in 2011; instead of throwing in the towel, he worked hard, he trained hard, and he started to jump much, much higher before winning his first major title with a victory in Helsinki. Grabarz, along with Lithuania's Raivydas Stanys, cleared 2.31m but the verdict went to the Briton on the basis of fewer failures during the competition.

Bulgaria's Ivet Lalova celebrated an emotional 100m win, her first European title as a senior, seven years after a broken thigh bone prevented her from contesting the 2006 World Championships held in the same stadium after her early season form suggested that she could have been among the medals.

She won in 11.28 on a cold night in Helsinki, after running 11.06 in the heats which were conducted in morning sunshine the day before.

“I have had some tough years coming back and I thank everyone around me that I never quit and I never thought about it,” said a tearful Lalova

Christophe Lemaitre collected his second 100m gold medal in succession at the European Athletics Championships, running 10.09 to cement his already secure place in the pantheon of French sport, and second place also went to France with Jimmy Vicaut in 10.12.

The Netherlands' Churandy Martina won the 200m gold in 20.42 in the absence of 2010 champion Lemaitre who chose to concentrate his energies on the shorter distance, which also confirmed the Dutchman's position as the current European number one in the longer sprint after he had run a national record of 19.94 earlier in the season, a time that he was to improve to 19.85 in August.

Further lustre was added to Martina's championship when he ran a crucial second leg for his country's 4x100m team the following day to help the Netherlands to an unexpected second gold medal in Helsinki.


Your Sport for Life HELSINKI 2012

Sandra Perkovic of Croatia screams with joy after winning the discus gold. Russia’s Sergey Shubenkov celebrates his victory in the 110m hurdles final.

Turkey's Nevin Yanit retained her 100m hurdles title with victory in 12.81 from Belarus' 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships gold medallist Alina Talay, who finished second in 12.91.

“Maybe the time wasn’t that good but my gold medal shows that Turkish athletics is now at a high level. My coach said to me: ‘I don’t care about the time, just get the medal',” said Yanit.

Yanit's optimism about the state of the sport in her country seemed fully justified on a sensational penultimate night of the Championships for Turkey when she was the third athlete to triumph in rainy conditions.

Gulcan Mingir got proceedings going when she won the women's 3000m steeplechase in 9:32.96, following a final kilometre in a brutal 9:01.04, and then Polat Kemboi Arikan had the superior finishing speed of the eight men still in contention at the bell of the 10,00m to win in 28:22.27 before Yanit completed the hat-trick.

Among the new names to emerge in Helsinki were three 21-year-old men who all triumphed.

Czech Republic's Pavel Maslák and Norway's Henrik Ingebrigtsen won the

400m and 1500m titles impressively and are still young enough to contest the 2012 European Athletics U23 Championships, which will be held next summer in the Finnish city of Tampere.

So too will the Russian hurdler Sergey Shubenkov, who potentially could be defending the European U23 110m hurdles crown he won last year in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Shubenkov clocked a Russian record of 13.09 in his semi-final and then added a European senior title to his collection as he held off the determined challenge of the men either side of him – France's Garfield Darien and Poland's Artur Noga – to take gold in 13.16 before dancing an exuberant jig of joy, his face exhibiting a beaming smile.

Russia's other men's gold medallist was Yuriy Borzakovskiy, who has been one of the most consistent 800m runners in the world over the past decade, although it had been eight years since he became the Olympic 800m champion in Athens.

Now 31, Borzakovskiy showed he has lost none of his desire, belief or ability to win as he came across the line in 1:48.61 for his first European outdoor title, just edging out Denmark's Andreas Bube by eight-hundredths of a second.

The Borlée twins Jonathan and Kevin inspired Belgium to a roaring win in the 4x 400m. The former got things rolling on the second leg when he took his country from seventh to second with a lap of 44.3.

It was thrilling stuff and after Jente Bouckart maintained the momentum on leg three, it was then the turn of Jonathan's sibling Kevin to grab the stick and the 2010 European 400m champion produced a stunning 44.2 split to overhaul Britain's Richard Buck before taking the gold medal in 3:01.09.

Every picture tells a story and the way that Borlée raised his right arm, baton aloft in the air, with a big scream to go with it as he crossed the line, summed up the mood of celebration that engulfed every gold medallist in Helsinki.

Näkemiin Helsinki 2012, as they say in Finland when waving goodbye. Thank you for being a magnificent host and the European Athletics family can already start looking forward to convening again in Zurich in two years’ time.


Your Sport for LifeHELSINKI 2012

19 golden memories for European Athletics at London 2012

In such an environment, it was no surprise that European athletes rose to the occasion magnificently.

Europe’s top performers took 19 gold medals – one more than in 2008 and over 40 percent of the 47 on offer – and 49 medals in total.

Nine of European Athletics’ Member Federations had their national anthems played to a capacity crowd of 80,000 spectators while another five nations saw their flags raised as their representatives stood on the podium.

Russia lead the way from a continental perspective, winning eight events and getting another five medals each of a silver and bronze hue.

Pride of place among the Russian victories went to the prodigious 20-year-old Yelena Lashmanova, who clocked one of four athletics world records in London 2012 she crossed the line in the 20km walk in 1:25:02.

With massive local crowd support behind them, who raised the rafters of what will be the venue for the 2017 World Championships whenever a British athlete appeared was in action, Great Britain moved up to fourth in the sport’s medal table overall and were the second most successful European nation with four gold medals.

Few who were there will ever forget the reception given to 2011 European Athlete of the Year Mo Farah, who won the first of his two gold medals when beating the rest of the world’s top 10,000m

runners, long jumper Greg Rutherford

and heptathlete Jessica Ennis when they were all crowned champions in barely 40 minutes on the first Saturday night of the 10-day athletics programme.

Farah, who added the 5000m title on the last night of athletics to his ever-growing list of accolades and also became the first Briton of either sex to win an Olympic distance running event, can claim to be Europe’s top male athlete at London 2012 by virtue of being the only man to stand on the podium twice.

The unofficial honour of being Europe’s top female by this criteria belongs to Russia’s 2010 European 400m hurdles champion Natalya Antyukh, who dashed over the 10 barriers in her event to win in 52.70 and become the second fastest European ever. She then ran a crucial anchor leg on her country’s silver medal-winning 4x400m team.

However, every single European competitor deserves applause for being present on the biggest stage in athletics, and at arguably the greatest athletics competition ever seen.

In addition to Lashmanova’s feat, three athletes from the continent set Olympic records which added lustre to their

triumphs, and their marks will be tough to beat in Rio four years from now.

French pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie finally got a global outdoor title to add to all his other gold medals with a clearance of 5.97m; Russia’s Sergey Kirdyapkin took more than a minute off the previous Olympic 50km walk standard when he sped around 25 laps of the super-fast central London course in 3:35:59, the fourth fastest ratified time ever, while his compatriot Tatyana Lysenko hurled her hammer out to 78.18m.

There are also two other athletes who are worth of a special mention for one specific reason: Polish shot putter Tomasz Majewski and Czech javelin thrower Barbora Spotáková were the only European champions from Beijing four years ago to retain their Olympic titles.

Looking beyond who stood on the podium, there were 29 Member Federations who had at least one finalist or top eight finisher, demonstrating that the sport at an elite level is in good health across Europe, despite the various and varied challenges that have to be faced in the current economic and social climate.

No less than 12 men’s national records and 21 women’s records were set by European athletes in London.

Athletics is a sport, to a certain extent, governed by statistics and with the 2013 World Championships next summer also being held on European soil, in Moscow, all these figures will provide a benchmark for comparisons on a national and continental level.

However, athletics is also about effort and emotion as well, and European athletes also proved themselves to be at the heart and soul of the sport.

There is little to add that has not already been written or said about Farah’s two

The London 2012 Olympic Games were a splendid success from every standpoint. Fantastic performances from the athletes combined with huge, enthusiastic crowds, and unstinting contributions from officials and volunteers alike was set against the magnificent backdrop of the Olympic Stadium, writes Phil Minshull.

Jessica Ennis of Great Britain

Natalya Antyukh of Russia


Your Sport for Life LONDON 2012

win but any Olympic victory on home soil will always be an especially moving moment.

After his 5000m win at the 2011 World Championships, Farah had to cope with a huge level of expectation in the subsequent 12 months but he shrugged aside all the pressure on his slight shoulders when he uncorked a scorching last lap of 53.48 in the 10,000m that no one else could match. His finishing time of 27:30.42, was almost irrelevant under the circumstances.

Seven days later, he again showed his tactical brilliance as well as his abundant talent when, after a slow initial 10 laps, he moved into the lead with 700m remaining in the 5000m before holding off all his rivals with another stunning burst of acceleration on the last lap to win for a second time at the Games.

In similar fashion, Ennis had been burdened with the mantle of being the local heroine and poster girl of the Olympics but, despite several other credible challengers for the heptathlon gold medal, she set the scene for the whole of the athletics programme when she sped to a 100m hurdles national record and heptathlon world best of 12.54 on the opening morning of the games.

From that point there was no stopping Ennis. She finished with 6955 points, a national record and a tally only ever beaten by four other women.

By contrast, Lashmanova was far from the favourite for the 20km walk despite her win at the World Race Walking Cup in May, when she beat her compatriot and 2008 Olympic champion Olga Kaniskina and it looked as though the three-time world champion was well on her way to defending her title when she lead by 17 seconds at the bell ahead of the last of the 10 laps.

However, Lashmanova delivered a fantastic final 2km of walking to edge in front of Kaniskina just 100m from the line, eventually coming home seven seconds in front of her regular training partner.

Another five Russian women were to strike gold in London 2012, including the 2011 European Athletic of the Year Mariya Savinova.

Savinova again showed her appetite for the big occasion and her great racing brain over two laps of the track when she took the 800m gold medal.

Lying fourth at the bell, the 2010 European champion and last year’s world champion hit the front just after entering the home straight and she then strode elegantly away from the opposition to win in a world-leading 1:56.19, a fantastic early birthday present as she turned 27 two days later.

In addition to Antyukh, another Russian who surmounted any barriers to her gold medal with ease was Yuliya Zaripova.

She adopted the same tactics that helped her win the 3000m steeplechase world title in 2011 and went straight to the front from the gun, gradually increasing the tempo over the first two kilometres to kill off her rivals before executing the coup-de-grace with a brutal last kilometre in 2:55.12, crossing the line in 9:06.72 for the world’s quickest time since 2008.

Lysenko was not the only Russian woman to win in the field with the popular Anna Chicherova going well clear with her second attempt at 2.05m to clinch the high jump gold medal after finishing third in Beijing.

Her success came four days after Ivan Ukhov showed the strength of Russian high jumping by taking the men’s title with 2.38m.

Athletes from elsewhere around Europe had plenty of other success in the field events as well.

In addition to those already mentioned, the incomparable Robert Harting stated his credentials as one of the top contenders in any 2012 athlete of the year poll when he extended his unbeaten streak in the discus to 29 competitions with his fifth round throw of 68.27m for Germany’s first Olympic gold medal in athletics since 2000.

Sandra Perkovic won the women’s discus and Croatia’s first athletics gold medal at any Olympics with a national record of 69.11m in the third round.

Krisztián Pars revived Hungary’s famous hammer tradition and consolidated his status as the top man in his event this year when he was the only thrower to go over 80 metres. Like Perkovic, his best effort came in the third round when he reached 80.59m.

Last but not least in the role call of honour among European athletes at London 2012, Asli Cakir became the first Turkish athlete to win at an Olympic title when she came out on top of a tactical women´s 1500m, crossing the line in 4:10.23 to become one of six athletes to add a 2012 Olympic crown to a gold medal that they had won just a few weeks earlier at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki.

In such a small amount of words, it is impossible to do true justice to the impact that European athletes had at London 2012.

Many gold medallists have only had a cursory mention and a myriad of other admirable and memorable feats have gone unmentioned but, suffice to say, Europe’s runners, jumpers, throwers and walkers did the continent proud at an Olympic Games held on European soil.

Barbora Spotáková

of the Czech Republic

Renaud Lavillenie celebrates

Robert Harting of Germany


Your Sport for LifeLONDON 2012

All set for Budapest

Every championship has a unique quality but Szentendre could be remembered for years to come because of the picturesque setting with the local skanzen – an open air museum which depicts Hungarian life from the 18th century onwards – being used as the central feature of the course.

This year’s host country is familiar with staging top-level athletics events, particularly in and around Budapest. The 1966 and 1998 European Athletics Championships, the 1983 and 1988 European Athletics Indoor Championships, as well as the 1989 and 2004 World Indoor Championships are all remembered fondly.

Additionally, the 1994 World Cross Country Championships were held on a horse racing track at Budapest’s Kincsam Park; an event which saw a youthful Sergey Lebid finish 33rd in the junior men’s race, the first sight at a major championship of the Ukrainian runner who has gone on to become arguably Europe’s greatest cross country runner ever and won at the SPAR European Cross Country Championship on a record nine occasions.

As befits an event that has grown in stature and importance since its introduction in 1994, this year’s SPAR European Cross Country Championships could potentially see record numbers of runners on the start line of many, if not all, of the six races.

The preliminary deadline for European Athletics’ Member Federations to register their interest was in mid-September and 33 countries have said that they intend to be represented.

No less than 106 senior men and 93 senior women have been entered and, even taking into account the fact that some of the leading nations will be sending reserves as well, this means that the records in the current championship format – with under 23 races being introduced in 2006 – of 77 men and 65 women, both numbers being reached at the 2008 championship in Brussels, could well be surpassed.In similar fashion to the seniors, there have been 104 men and 79 women entered in the under 23 races, as well as 112 men and 105 women for the junior races.

The largest delegations will come from the traditional European cross country powerhouses

of Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, France and Italy, who have all entered squads of more than 40 athletes and so are likely to have full teams on the start line in all six races.

Hosts Hungary, who have won five gold medals in the past at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships, intend to have 32 of their best distance runners competing on home soil in front of their family and friends.

Belgium’s Atelaw Bekele and Ireland’s Fionnuala Britton, the runaway senior gold medallists at last year in the Slovenian city of Velenje, have both indicated that they will defend their titles in Budapest despite neither enjoying summer success as they would have liked.

Bekele suffered Achilles tendon problem in the spring which meant that he was not seen on the track and missed summer’s big events. However, during August and early September, Bekele had a seven-week stint at altitude in Ethiopia and is on the road to recovery.

The summer started promisingly for Britton as she made an impressive debut over 10,000m, running 31:29.22 back in April, but she then could only finish fourth over the distance at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki after starting as one of the favourites for gold over 25 laps of the track.

One other champion from last December eligible to defend her title is the British teenager Emelia Gorecka, who won the junior women’s race in Velenje when only 17 before taking the 3000m bronze medal at the World Junior Championships this summer.

However, the junior women’s race could be one of the most hotly disputed races of the day and Gorecka is not expected have matters all her own way.

Serbia’s Amela Terzic, the 2012 World Junior Championships 1500m silver medallist, will be striving to finally come home in front at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships after winning the silver medal two years ago and the bronze in 2011.

A man sure to get the attention and applause as well is Lebid, who is expected to continue his streak of having appeared in every edition of the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.

“Something special happens to me every December, when the weather gets colder and I see the Europeans on the calendar,” joked Lebid recently, echoing the thoughts of many cross country aficionados across the continent.

Hungary has the honour of becoming the 12th country to play host to the continent’s top cross country event when the town of Szentendre, which nestles on the banks of the Danube just north of the capital Budapest, stages the 2012 SPAR European Cross Country Championships on 9 December, writes Phil Minshull.


Your Sport for Life BUDAPEST 2012

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