N E W S L E T T E R O F E U R O P E A N A T H L E T I C S

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GOLDEN COUPLE

Kevin Mayer and Dina Asher-Smith crowned Athletes of the Year

European Athletics Convention Young Leaders in Berlin Athletics Data ConferenceLooking ahead to Glasgow & Minsk

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2017 EUROPEAN ATHLETICS CONGRESS

European Athletics Association Européenne d’Athlétisme

President: Svein Arne Hansen

Vice Presidents:Dobromir KaramarinovFrank HenselJean Gracia

CEO: Christian Milz

Office: Avenue Louis-Ruchonnet 16CH-1003 LausanneSwitzerlandPhone +41 (0)21 313 43 50Fax +41 (0)21 313 43 51office@european-athletics.orgwww.european-athletics.org

Inside Track is published by European Athletics

Co-ordination:James Mulligan,European Athletics Communication DepartmentPhone +41 (0)21 313 43 57media@european-athletics.org

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Middle distance champion Laura Muir introducing mascot "Scottee'.

GLASGOW 2019 JUST AROUND THE CORNERA look ahead to the Glasgow 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships.

Great Britain has staged a succession of highly acclaimed major events in recent seasons – including the IAAF World Championships London 2017 and the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018 – and the spotlight will be on the Scottish city of Glasgow from 1-3 March.

This will be the third European Athletics Indoor Championships staged in Great Britain since its inception in 1970. Glasgow hosted the event in 1990 when Linford Christie (60m) and Tom McKean (800m) won on home soil, before Birmingham hosted the championships in 2007.

The 1990 European Indoor Championships were staged in Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall, but next year’s event takes place at the recently built multi-sport Emirates Arena. The 5500-seater stadium was completed in 2012 for the 2014 Commonwealth Games when it staged the

track cycling and the badminton events.The Emirates Arena has placed Glasgow

firmly on the international sporting map with World Cup gymnastics, UCI track cycling and Davis Cup tennis all having taken place there over recent years. The SPAR British Indoor Athletics Championships is staged at the Emirates Arena in alternating years with Arena Birmingham and athletics will take centre stage once again in March.

The timing of the championships is ideal from a domestic standpoint with Scottish athletics enjoying a resurgence courtesy of Laura Muir, Callum Hawkins, Eilish McColgan, Eilidh Doyle, Jake Wightman, Chris O’Hare and countless others in recent seasons.

Muir was one of the stars of the last European Indoor Championships in Belgrade where she won a 1500m and

3000m double, setting championship records in both events. She was one of the first high-profile athletes to publicly confirm her participation in Glasgow, although her racing schedule during the championships is yet to be fully confirmed.

Muir is an ambassador for Glasgow 2019 and has been active in promoting the championships. Days after winning the European outdoor 1500m title in Berlin, she helped to launch the 200 Days To Go Countdown and was present at Crookston Castle Primary School in October when ‘Scottee' the Scottie dog mascot was officially unveiled.

The organisers are expecting nearly 20,000 people - including fans, athletes, officials and media - to attend the championships.

When they are not watching the athletics action, visitors can visit world-renowned free-to-enter museums including the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum – recently ranked as one of Britain’s leading art museums – and the Riverside Museum, and take in other attractions like Glasgow Cathedral, George Square and the Glasgow Botanic Gardens.

Tickets for the European Indoor Championships can be bought from www.glasgow2019athletics.com/tickets.

After months, indeed years, of anticipation I am very pleased to be able to look back at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships and say it was a resounding success. It was a delight to be there and witness the spectacle first hand.

It is fashionable for leaders of sports federations to say that a recently concluded championship was “the best ever” but I genuinely believe that this was the case here and the media reaction in Germany and across Europe has reinforced my view. I say this without any disrespect or criticism of previous European Athletics Championships, most of which were the best ever at the time they were staged.

However, most people within our sport, and all of us at European Athletics, strive constantly to improve how athletics is presented – both for the benefit of competitors themselves and for the public-at-large – and in this the Berlin 2018 local organisers did a magnificent job.

Not only did Berlin 2018 fulfil its role as the continental pinnacle of our sport, it was also an integral part of the inaugural multi-sport European Championships, and in this respect it delivered a huge success despite the logistical issues of six other sports being co-hosted in Glasgow.

I will not go into detail about what made Berlin 2018 and the European Championships such a success – although the spectator numbers, the atmosphere in both Berlin and Glasgow and the TV figures come quickly to mind – but I can say that this summer has provided a platform and blueprint to make the next multi-sport European Championships an even greater success in 2022 and for which a host city should be announced shortly.

We have two more European Athletics Major Events in the next few months: the Tilburg 2018 SPAR European Athletics Cross Country Championships and the Glasgow 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships. Both of these host cities have staged their respective events before – Tilburg in 2005 and Glasgow in 1990 – so it is gratifying that the local organisers were keen to repeat the experience.

The Royal Dutch Athletics Federation and British Athletics have strong traditions in our sport; for producing top-level athletes, for staging outstanding high-level competitions and for enthusiastic and knowledgeable public support of athletics.

European Athletics has been working in close collaboration with the organisers in the Netherlands and Great Britain so we know that preparations have been methodical and well-managed but also with a level of creativity which will help maintain and enhance the profile our sport needs and deserves across the continent. I think that both events will be magnificent affairs and hugely entertaining.

The European Athletics Convention in Lausanne in October brought together our Member Federations and other stakeholders of the sport. Innovation was the key word of this gathering and we were able to offer the biggest and most varied programme of workshops ever in a bid to promote the exchange of ideas and improve communication.

A glittering Golden Tracks award ceremony followed in which France’s world decathlon record-holder, Kevin Mayer, and Great Britain’s three-time 2018 European champion, Dina Asher-Smith, deservedly received the men’s and women’s European Athlete of the Year trophies.

It would also be disingenuous of me not to mention the European Athletics elections next April and I have already announced I will be a candidate for the presidency. The last three-and-a-half years have flown by and I know we still have more to do in order to realise the vision that I was elected to deliver in April 2015, but the progress and successes we have enjoyed since then give me continuing confidence that we can go forward and do this together.

SVEIN ARNE HANSEN

AUF WIEDERSEHEN BERLIN, HELLO TILBURG AND GLASGOW

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WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT

GOLDEN TRACKS

MAYER AND ASHER-SMITH SHARE ATHLETES OF THE

YEAR HONOURSWorld decathlon record-holder and triple European sprint champion

crowned at the Golden Tracks award ceremony in Lausanne.

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World decathlon record-holder Kevin Mayer and triple European sprint champion Dina Asher-Smith were crowned 2018 European Athletes of the Year at the Golden Tracks award ceremony at the SwissTech Convention Center in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The annual end-of-season award ceremony which celebrated a superlative year of athletics was presented by Andy Kay and 2016 European long jump silver medallist, Jazmin Sawyers, and was streamed live across European Athletics’ digital platforms, reaching all 51 Member Federations.

Mayer became the third Frenchman to be named men’s European Athlete of the Year after Christophe Lemaitre in 2010 and Renaud Lavillenie in 2014. The 26-year-old received the accolade ahead of European champions Armand Duplantis from Sweden, Jakob Ingebrigtsen from Norway and Ramil Guliyev from Turkey, and was presented with his trophy by European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen.

Mayer began his season by winning the world indoor heptathlon title in Birmingham with a world-leading score of 6348. The Frenchman’s assault on the European decathlon title came to a premature end with three fouls in the long jump but he returned with a vengeance the following month, improving the world record to 9126 points on home soil at the Decastar meeting in Talence.

"It was a great disappointment and two days after Berlin, I just wanted to go back onto the track. This is my passion. I was disappointed for two days, but I just had to get back on the track,” he said, reflecting back on a tumultuous month.

Asher-Smith became the fourth British recipient of the women’s European Athlete of the Year trophy after Sally Gunnell won the inaugural award in 1993, followed by Kelly Holmes in 2004 and Jessica Ennis-Hill in 2012.

Asher-Smith received her trophy from IAAF President Sebastian Coe. She was shortlisted alongside European pole

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EUROPEAN ATHLETICS COUNCIL

“This is a great feeling, but the best feeling was the world

record in Talence. This is a great pleasure, but the best pleasure

is out on the track. "Kevin Mayer

vault champion and last year’s award winner Ekaterini Stefanidi from Greece and European heptathlon champion Nafissatou Thiam from Belgium.

The Brit became just the third female sprinter in European Championships history to take a sweep of the sprint titles and the 22-year-old picked out her 200m victory as her personal highlight of the championships.

“The 200m was my favourite,” said Asher-Smith, who set a world-lead and British record of 21.89. “I’ve been trying to go sub-22 for so long and I might do well in races, but I mess up something all the time so when I did the 200m, it was exactly how my coach wanted it and that’s the first time in five years.”

There was a first in the Rising Star category as European 100m hurdles champion Elvira Herman became the first Belarusian athlete to receive an award at the Golden Tracks award ceremony. Herman, 21, won gold in the women’s 100m hurdles at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships. She was

nominated alongside double European U18 champions Maria Vicente from Spain and Sarah Healy from Ireland.

Herman, who received her award from European Athletics First Vice President, Dobromir Karamarinov, said: “At the start of this year, I couldn’t think that I would be European champion and when I took first place, I was shocked. I want to thank European Athletics for this amazing and important award and I’m sure it will motivate me for better results.”

On the men’s side, European pole vault champion Armand Duplantis and European 1500m and 5000m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen were named joint Rising Stars for their unprecedented achievements in Berlin.

Duplantis, 18, cleared three world U20 records and a championship record of 6.05m to defeat one of the most competitive fields ever assembled for a major championships pole vault final, while Ingebrigtsen won a remarkable 1500/5000m double on back-to-back evenings at the age of 17.

GOLDEN TRACKSGOLDEN TRACKS

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Neither of them could attend due to training and study commitments in the United States but Duplantis, who is a first-year student at Louisiana State University, recorded a message from Baton Rouge.

“I would also like to congratulate Jakob for being the co-winner of this award. There’s not a better athlete I would like to share it with,” he said.

Recently retired Greg Rutherford, who won five major outdoor titles in the long jump between 2012 and 2016, won the Lifetime Achievement Award while Ukraine’s two-time European 800m champion Nataliya Pryshchepa received the Fair Play Award.

Pryshchepa gained many plaudits for her spontaneous act of sportsmanship in the Berlin 800m heats when she ran to the assistance of Belgium’s Renee Eykens who fell in the home straight.

Outstanding coaches were recognised again at the Golden Tracks award ceremony. The annual European Athletics Coaching Awards came into being in 2010 and forms a key part of European Athletics’ strategy to promote coaching at all levels.

The coach of each European senior champion is automatically nominated and all Member Federations are also invited to nominate one additional male and female coach based on the criteria “excellence in coaching.”

The first recipients of this year's European Athletics Coaching Awards were Sweden’s Carina Lindberg and Switzerland’s Jacques Binder while the remainder of the recipients will receive their awards at national ceremonies. In total, 58 coaches representing 32 Member Federations will receive a European Athletics Coaching Award.

The overall winner of the biennial Innovation Awards were also acknowledged at the Golden Tracks award ceremony. The winning entry this year was submitted by Antonio Sanchez Pato and Emanuele Isidori and was entitled: 'An Innovative European Sports Tutorship Model Of The Dual Career Of Students.' Five universities across Europe took part in this Erasmus+ project.

The paper presented a number of conclusions and recommendations from their research and called for a European model of sustainability for student-athletes across all sports.

“I really did not expect to win because there are so many

great female athletes across Europe. To think that you guys think I'm the female athlete of

the year is crazy."Dina Asher-Smith

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PROFILE: KEVIN MAYERAge: 26 Born: Argenteuil, Paris Coach: Bertrand Valcin

Season highlightsKevin Mayer missed out on the European decathlon title but the Frenchman did come away with a gold medal from the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham where he won the heptathlon title by five points from Canada’s Damian Warner.

This was his third major title in a row and a fourth would surely beckon in the decathlon in Berlin. Mayer broke a gamut of lifetime bests in the build-up – including particularly impressive marks of 13.71 in the 110m hurdles and 16.51m in the shot put – but his title aspirations went awry after three narrow fouls in the long jump.

Just over a month later, Mayer produced a career-defining showing on home soil in Talence, where he smashed Ashton Eaton’s world record with 9126 points, the first athlete in history to surpass the 9100 point-barrier. He set four lifetime bests along the way – including 7.80m in the long jump and 71.90m in the javelin – to break Eaton’s world record by 81 points.

What’s next? Mayer is planning a low-key indoor season to prepare fully for the outdoor campaign which culminates at the IAAF World Championships in Doha where he will defend his decathlon title.

Did you know? Mayer scored 4563 points on both the first day and second day in Talence where he broke the world decathlon record with 9126 points.

PROFILE: DINA ASHER-SMITHAge: 23 Born: Orpington, London Coach: John Blackie

Season highlights Dina Asher-Smith concluded a whistlestop indoor season by equalling her 60m PB with 7.08 in Glasgow before winning bronze in the 200m at the Commonwealth Games in 22.29, running Jamaica's double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson out of the medals.

But Asher-Smith’s main focus was on the European summer campaign and the Briton was particularly prolific over 100m, breaking the 11 second-barrier three times in the build-up to Berlin: 10.92 in Oslo, 10.93 in Stockholm and 10.97 at the British Championships.

Faster times and more records beckoned in the German capital as Asher-Smith first equalled the

world-lead of 10.85 in the 100m before winning the 200m in an outright world-lead of 21.89. Both were British records and she concluded by anchoring the British relay team to victory in another world-lead of 41.88, just shy of the national record.

Asher-Smith carried her form through right until the end of the season, finishing second over 100m in both the Diamond League final and IAAF Continental Cup.What’s next? Asher-Smith is planning to contest both the 100m and 200m at the IAAF World Championships in Doha, the first time she will contest both individual events in a global championships. Did you know? Asher-Smith won her first major senior medal aged 17 when she ran the first leg of Great Britain’s bronze medal-winning relay team at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow.

Left Male Rising Star award winners Armand Duplantis and Jakob Ingebrigtsen; Centre Female Rising Star Elvira Herman; Right Greg Rutherford with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

CONVENTION IN OPTIMISTIC MOODRecord numbers gathered in Lausanne for encouragement, learning and networking.

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CONVENTION 2018

There was a mood of optimism and celebration as the European Athletics Family convened in Lausanne, Switzerland for the European Athletics Convention 2018 and these themes were reflected in President Svein Arne Hansen’s speech during the official opening.

“This is the fourth time I have opened the Convention with a celebration of the season just passed. This time, however, I can say that we are surely looking back on what must be the greatest year in European Athletics’ history.

“It has been a year in which the world saw our sport at its very best. And, if that was not enough, 2018 was when all of us could finally start to see the positive impact of the changes many of you here have worked so hard to implement over the last three years,” he said.

Hansen cited achievements both on the track and away from it as reasons to reflect on the season with satisfaction, describing the European 10,000m Cup in London as the most successful to date and speaking highly of the European Athletics U18 Championships in Gyor. He said that the CEO Conference in Minsk was the “best ever” and he was also proud of the mandatory U18 rollout of the flagship ‘I Run Clean’ anti-doping education programme.

But the focal point of the year was the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships which formed part of the inaugural multi-sport European Championships programme with co-hosts Glasgow.

“The success of Berlin was a confirmation of the value of another innovation – the brave decision to bring our championships together with those of six other sports taking place in Glasgow for the multi-sport European Championships.

“In the past, I have spoken about my ambition for athletics to be in every home and on every phone in Europe. Now, on the back of our success in Berlin, I have the feeling we are really moving in that direction. It is realistic to think it can become a reality.”

On a more cautionary note, Hansen warned the sport could not afford to rest on its laurels and called on all interested parties to continue to work hard to consolidate and build upon these recent successes.

“For all that we have accomplished together, we have brought the sport to a critical moment. It would be natural to feel confident, maybe comfortable, but this is the time where there is a real danger of complacency.

“I am reminded of a saying: nothing fails like success. The fact is, we need to be aware that we are at a place where it is essential to stay focused on the future,

Top President Svein Arne Hansen opens the Convention at the SwissTech Convention Center in Lausanne.

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Left Berlin 2018 CEO Frank Kowalski expounds on a successful digital event strategy.Below Olga Aksyonova engages at a Member Federation Support workshop.

CONVENTION 2018

to keep moving forward, to keep changing, to keep innovating,” he said.

With this in mind, a key theme throughout this year’s Convention was innovation in the build-up to another important season which will see a number of new projects and events come to fruition, including DNA which forms part of the European Games programme in Minsk.

The DNA workshop was one of the most heavily subscribed events of the Convention. The three-hour session outlined the strategy behind the event as well as addressing logistical and technical specifics for team leaders. It was opened by President Hansen and concluded with a panel discussion featuring long jumper Greg Rutherford.

On the topic of change, the Convention also included a workshop on prospective revisions to the athletics calendar and the qualifying process for major championships, generating a robust and lively debate from the floor. It was opened by Council Member Toralf Nilsson with Periklis Iakovakis and Lea Sprunger providing an athlete's perspective in the discussion.

Expanding on recent successes, a workshop dedicated to running focused on European Athletics’ strategy in the domain such as the future of Running for All and updates on the second edition of the European Running Business Conference in Prague next September. Denmark’s Jakob Larsen, Belarus’ Aliaksandr But-Husaim and Norway’s Kjetil Hildeskor spoke about the importance of being proactive in

developing mass participation events nationally and how running is a fundamental part of their respective domestic agendas.

Another important takeaway from the Convention for delegates was Frank Kowalski’s presentation on the importance of digital strategy and fan engagement, drawing on his recent experience as CEO of the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships.

IAAF President Sebastian Coe was in attendance throughout the event and he took part in a joint question-and-answer session with President Hansen. A whole gamut of topics were addressed, including doping, the future of the commercial circuit and the multi-sport European Championships.

This year’s Convention attracted an unprecedented number of delegates from Member Federations and relevant stakeholders, all keen to make the most of the programme on offer. In between sessions it provided an excellent opportunity for delegates to build their networks and to socialise.

“When we first talked about the concept we were expecting 15 or 20 to sign up for each workshop,” commented Hansen. “We even discussed if we should cancel one of them if there were less than 10 people interested. I am told that all the workshops were oversubscribed and in the case of the Calendar and Ranking System workshop we had more than 100 participants. I guess we really did not need to worry!”

The 2019 European Athletics Convention will take place in Tbilisi, Georgia from 17-19 October.

LOOKING BACK AT BERLINBerlin staged a magnificent and memorable championships as part of a hugely successful multi-sport event that provides a blueprint for the future.

The Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships – part of the inaugural multi-sport European Championships – had barely concluded before the plaudits started to arrive.

Stefan Kuerten, Director of European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Sport, a European Athletics International Partner, was ebullient in his praise.

"Thank you to the city of Berlin, you have done excellent work," he commented immediately after Berlin 2018 had come to an end. "It has been fantastic.

"Thank you to European Athletics for going with us on the venture. It is not only these Championships, it is embedded in a big new concept [the European Championships encompassed seven sports, with six being staged by co-host Glasgow] and this is something that was, for us, the first edition.

"We brought in the best journalists we had, the best host broadcasters and services. On top of that, we brought 40 EBU member organisations with us who cleared their schedules and went for

between eight and 12 hours live coverage for a new event [the overall European Championships].

"As you would say in poker, we went all in. When we see what Berlin did, what European Athletics did, what Glasgow did, it was beyond our expectations.

"The viewing figures [for the European Athletics Championships] have been incredible in Germany, and in Norway, where the reach was 80 per cent. We have had a 50 per cent reach in the Czech Republic, and between 30 to 40 per cent

BERLIN 2018

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OFFICIAL NEWS

Opposite Poland's Justyna Swiety-Ersetic crosses the line to win gold in the women's 4 x 400m Relay, Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium winner of the women's heptathlon, Sweden's Armand Duplantis shattered the championship pole vault record. Top Runners in the women's relay prepare to receive the baton in a sold out stadium.

in Switzerland. The whole concept flies,” reflected Kuerten enthusiastically.

As further information about TV viewing figures has become available, Kuerten revealed at the ‘Sports Ministers’ Conference’ in the German town of Sankt Wendel in early November that the overall viewing figures for the European Championships compared favourably with the 2018 Winter Olympics earlier in the year.

“Overall, 265 million 'unique recipients' were reached, a level that was almost Olympic in format,” said Kuerten, adding that athletics was the most-watched sport during the European Championships. The 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Winter Games saw an estimated 350 million unique recipients.

GERMANY HITS THE HIGH NUMBERSNaturally, as the German capital was the host city for the European Athletics Championship, the best figures for athletics coverage were on German television.

Two statistics released by the EBU tell part of the story of Berlin 2018’s impact.

ARD – the German host broadcaster – saw TV audience numbers for Tuesday’s first main session of athletics jump 47% on Amsterdam 2016, a significant increase even taking the home nation factor into account because Germany is known as

an athletics-loving country.No fewer than 6.3 million viewers tuned in on the

penultimate day, Saturday 11 August, to witness golds going to high jumper Mateusz Przybylko and long jumper Malaika Mihambo.

On the following day, the last day of Berlin 2018, athletics notably held its own against football in the battle for German audiences: 5.44 million people watched Bayern Munich’s 5-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the DFL-Supercup Final on one channel while, at the same time, 5.16 million watched local heroine Gesa Felicitas Krause defend her European 3000m steeplechase title on another channel, ARD.

The viewing figures alone proved the value of an innovative and dynamic timetable, but that Saturday evening session was also watched by a capacity crowd of 60,500 in the historic and famous Olympic Stadium.

“The timetable was a big change. Individual sessions of only two hours of athletics, only finals. In my opinion, we do not need any change [of the fundamental aspects] of athletics. We need to have professional presentation, very compact time schedules combined with the emotions of the athletes, and then we have a perfect moment of athletics during the evening,” commented Frank Kowalski, CEO Berlin 2018 European Championships.

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BERLIN 2018

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He added: “We had a total of 360,000 spectators at the stadium, and the European Mile has drawn around 150,000. This means we activated more than 500,000 people for our sport. This was beyond our expectations, but it is not an accident. There was a really strong concept behind it when we went into the bidding in 2013.”

SHORTER SESSIONS, STAKEHOLDERS SERVICEDIn fact, each evening session was held over just two or three hours and featuring multiple finals to ensure maximum engagement from athletics fans and the public in general.

The wider European Championships programme – of which Berlin 2018 was a key component – made it essential to compress the Berlin evening schedules to accommodate various stakeholders demands, but particularly those of TV, but this also helped heighten the drama.

The evening sessions were collectively

shortened by approximately six hours from recent previous European Athletics Championships, primarily by staging most of medal ceremonies at the European Mile in the centre of the city at Breitscheidplatz as opposed to the traditional venue of the main stadium.

This was achieved without any disciplines being shortened, changed or eliminated.

An athlete-focused communications strategy had been activated across multiple platforms over the previous two years to greatly increase the level of awareness not only of the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships but also the whole European Championships.

Likewise, extensive cooperation with the German Sports Aid Foundation and the German Football League as well as projects like an individual Donald Duck story with the Walt Disney publishing house all served to achieve the main goal of making Berlin 2018 unforgettable.

Berlin’s local state secretary for sport

Aleksander Dzembritski gave the view of the local public authorities.

"We are very, very satisfied with these European Championships. Wherever I've been, whether it was the arena at the Breitscheidplatz, or it was the Olympic Stadium, or at the concert that was held on Tuesday, there were fantastic emotions,” eulogised Dzembritski.

The city’s support had been vital for a successful Championships, not least with their assistance with the out-of-stadia marathon and race walking events in the centre and the European Mile in Breitscheidplatz. An emotional Dzembritski was proud of their achievements.

"I am very, very sure that Berlin delivered. This was a great event, it worked very well. There was an emotional goodbye from [retiring German discus thrower] Robert Harting. We learned the word ‘goosebumps’ and in the Olympic Stadium there were more and more spectators every day. They celebrated, and it was a fantastic feeling.”

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CEO CONFERENCE

PLENTIFUL PLAUDITSThe plaudits for Berlin 2018 have come not just from stakeholders intimately involved with the event. In the short time since they came to an end, the Championships are increasingly being seen as a model for sporting events of the future in terms of organisation, sustainability, integration and diversity.

Berlin 2018 has already been honoured with awards such as the Prize for Fairness and Olympic Values by the Deutsche Olympische Gesellschaft (German Olympic Society.)

"Fairness and integration: the sport of athletics was exemplary once again, and that is exactly what the Olympic ideals are, for which the German Olympic Society is committed, and we hope that this example will make a name for itself and have the widest possible impact on society,” said Richard Meng, President of the DOG Berlin Chapter, when making the award to Frank Kowalski and four-time European long jump champion Heike Drechsler in September.

Dr Clemens Prokop, President of the Organising Committee for Berlin 2018, summarised the success of this summer’s European Athletics Championships.

“When we bid for these Championships five years ago, we announced we would

organise an innovative championship that would mark an important step in the future of athletics in Europe. I think we did it and I am very proud of that. I think we can say Berlin did a good job for the city and for athletics.”

However, the last words on Berlin 2018 should go to European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen.

Speaking at the European Athletics Convention in November, Hansen said: “Two years ago, I said our championships in Amsterdam were a real game changer. We demonstrated that our sometimes-criticised innovation of a championships in an Olympic year could succeed if we had well-coordinated cooperation between European Athletics, the Member Federations, the LOC and all the other stakeholders.

“But I think we all know now that Berlin took us to another level. Everyone who was there will remember a beautiful week. The atmosphere in the stadium and at the Breitscheidplatz each night was amazing. Most importantly, they will remember that the athletes were wonderful.

“Together with our television and new media audiences, we experienced the quality of what European Athletics can deliver though our core business of elite athletics and major events.”

Opposite Koen Naert wins marathon gold in front of a huge number of fans gathered on the European Mile at the Breitscheidplatz. Top Croatia's Sandra Perkovic celebrates women's discus gold with Championships mascot Berlino and Jakob Ingebrigtsen laps up the cheers for winning gold in the 5000m ahead of brother Henrik.

YOUNG LEADERS FORUM

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GENDER EQUITY TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT YOUNG LEADERS FORUMEncouraging women to take up leadership roles in sport was a key topic of discussion at the European Athletics Young Leaders Forum which took place on the sidelines of the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships.

European Athletics Vice President Jean Gracia raised the subject in his welcome address, telling the participants: “I am very pleased to see a room full of Young Leaders, and I am also very happy to see that the gender balance has been respected. In fact, it has gone beyond what we expected.”

Of the 68 participants at this year’s forum, 39 were women. Forty-four countries in total were represented.

“Gender equity is a very important topic for us,” Gracia continued. “We have included it in the IAAF and European Athletics constitutions and we are pushing our Member Federations to do the same. On the field of play in athletics we have parity. But in leadership we have a lot of progress still to make.”

The four-day forum was aimed at giving active young professionals from European Athletics Member Federations a chance to network, develop work and life skills, and apply best practices in their own communities upon returning

home. This year’s participants took part in plenary and breakout sessions on topics ranging from anti-doping and gender equity to personal development and youth advocacy.

A special guest speaker, IAAF President Sebastian Coe talked about his life in sport giving advice for athletes adapting to careers after sport and the need for gender balance, an issue he said he takes very seriously.

“When I became IAAF President,” he said, “I realised that, although we are 50-50 on the field of play, we have equal prize money for our athletes … there was only one woman who was head of a federation. I am pleased to report that we now have three or four on top of that in the past year or two.”

“[This led me to push] some fundamental changes to the IAAF constitution. It is now enshrined in our constitution that 28 or 29 per cent of all our governances will have to have female representation by 2019.

"In 2023, that number will go to over 40 per cent. And in 2027, every governance structure within the IAAF will be 50-50. That means it will be constitutionally illegal to have any governance structure within the IAAF that doesn’t have equal

representation.”Coe’s visit finished with a lively Q&A

with the Young Leaders who asked questions ranging from how to keep athletics relevant in a changing world to what impact the youth voice can have on major sporting events such as the European Championships.

Organised by young leaders themselves, the forum was designed to maximise sharing and emphasise collaboration. Daily team challenges were included in the agenda to keep things lively and fun with segments on project management, leadership and well-being, as well as networking.

The Young Leaders’ mission is to promote volunteer work and projects in athletics in order to help members develop themselves and make valuable contributions to sport and their local communities. The community is driven by its members with support from European Athletics, UNESCO and the Member Federations of European Athletics.

The aim is to use modern communications and social media tools to encourage volunteering and grassroots projects that promote athletics and help to prepare the sport’s next generation of leaders.

@EAYoungLeadersJochen Schweitzer joined #YLF in 2006, now he's Vice-Pres of @dlv_online.

@EAYoungLeaders to see the Young Leaders Forum look at our pictures! facebook.com/pg/AthleticsCommunity

@EAYoungLeaders#YLF2018 has started! Enjoy this journey and remember that this is #TheMoment

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WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP

Some 42 participants from 33 countries gathered in Brussels in June for the European Athletics Women’s Leadership Seminar, a follow-up to the highly successful Women in World Athletics Seminars held annually between 2013 and 2017, which reached out to 120 women from nearly 60 countries.

The seminar served the purpose of supporting and empowering women moving through leadership positions in the sport and offering a chance to share ideas, network with fellow professionals and broaden their knowledge.

The three-day programme took place at the EOC EU Office and was opened by

European Athletics Vice President Jean Gracia who spoke about the efforts being made by European Athletics in the area of gender equity. This was followed by a robust programme of talks and seminars from women in prominent leadership positions in sport as well as academics specialising in leadership studies.

Prominent speakers during the three-day seminar included IAAF Women’s Committee chairperson Esther Fittko, former Vice President of the German Athletics Federation, Dagmar Freitag, IAAF Council Member Sylvia Barlag and European Athletics Young Leaders Community member Katrin Heyers.

The seminar took place in the context of European Athletics’ ongoing efforts to reach gender equity and to implement the constitutional changes agreed during the 2017 European Athletics Congress in Vilnius, Lithuania bringing European Athletics into line with changes made to the IAAF constitution.

The path to gender equity can be seen at grassroots level. Of the 68 participants attending the European Athletics Young Leaders Forum held in Berlin, 39 of them were women. Past attendees have used the Young Leaders Forum as a platform to forge careers at leadership level within athletics.

SEMINAR ATTRACTS ATTENDEES FROM 33 COUNTRIES

IAAF WOMEN’S COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON ESTHER FITTKO ON THE YOUNG LEADERS FORUM

During my visit to the Young Leaders Forum in Berlin, I was not only impressed by the high number of

female participants but also the entire atmosphere. These young people are full of fantastic ideas on why people should get involved in athletics and how to do it. In doing so, they make no difference between genders and stand completely for equal rights.

However, we know that unfortunately the dropout rate among women in our society is higher than in men – both in practical sports and even more in leadership positions.

Even if the young generation does not think about it at the moment, we have to create fair conditions and motivate and encourage young women to remain in our sport. At the same time, a cultural change must be further promoted which is a prerequisite for gender equity. The current generation of leaders must create the conditions where gender equity will be self-evident in the near future so young people do not have to overcome high barriers.

FOCUS FEDERATION

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The third European Athletics Member Federation completed the ongoing Focus Federation Programme by presenting to the European Athletics Council in Budapest, Hungary at the start of November.

The Focus Federation Programme came into being in April 2017 as a vehicle to enhance communication and transparency between Member Federations and European Athletics, thus bringing the entire organisation into closer alignment.

The Focus Federation Programme is aimed at Member Federations who do not have any representation on the European Athletics Council and two Member Federations are invited to participate each year as part of the programme.

Belarus was the first Member Federation to complete the programme in autumn 2017 followed by Lithuania in the first half of this year. It was then the turn of their Baltic neighbours Latvia to participate in the programme.

The Focus Federation Programme began with a visit to the House of European Athletics in Lausanne in which

a delegation from the Latvia Athletic Association (LAA) participated in a robust programme of presentations and workshops in which they learned of the latest developments in DNA (Dynamic New Athletics), I Run Clean, the European Athletics Data Project, the European Athletics competition structure along with a briefing on European Athletics communications.

The LAA also used the visit to carry out preparatory work ahead of the European Athletics Council meeting where members of the delegation made their presentation as part of the second stage of the programme.

They provided the Council with highlights of the nation’s greatest athletics accomplishments, an overview of the staffing and structure of the federation and details of its activities, including its objectives for 2016-2020

They also set out their aspirations to host future European Athletics events in Riga as well as their development priorities for the future such as focusing on kids and youth and building the sport of athletics in Latvia from the ground up.

MEDICAL SEMINAR HELD ALONGSIDE EURO CHAMPSMember Federations from 34 countries sent more than 70 delegates to the second European Athletics Medical Seminar which was held on the sidelines of the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships.

The focus of the afternoon and evening was the perennial problem of hamstring injuries. Expert Dr Gustaaf Reurink of the Department of Orthopaedics, Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam outlined the latest evidence-based medicine and state of the art to make some clinical recommendations.

The most thorny question was how to predict the time required before a return to sport can be made, but he also advised on the rehabilitation, treatment and effective management of a return to training as well as primary and secondary prevention.

His presentation was supplemented by a workshop with practical rehabilitation excersises given by Jurdan Mendiguchia from the Department of Physical Therapy, Zentrum Rehab and Performance Center, Barañain, Spain.

After the seminar delegates took to social media to express their enthusiasm for the quality of the session dedicated to the importance of sprint mechanics for injury prevention.

Some claimed they would have to forget everything they had learned to date about hamstring injury diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitation, in the face of the latest evidence for hamstring injury prevention.

LATVIA BECOMES THIRD TO COMPLETE FOCUS FEDERATIONLatvian federation latest to benefit from intensive programme of sharing with Lausanne staff.

COACHING CLUB AND SUMMIT SERIES

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COACH PARTYEuropean Athletics Coaches Club, the Coaching Summit Series and forthcoming International Festival of Athletics Coaching have been a boon for the sport.Recent months have seen a wealth of opportunities for coaches to receive some coaching and development of their own.

The first European Athletics Coaches Club opened its doors during the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships with series of seminars and lectures.

Participation was free and open to any coach in Berlin with seminars and lectures scheduled to fall between sessions at the championships. Sessions included a look at the new DNA format but there were also special interest seminars on coaching high performers, the strength of female coaches and trends in sport science and technology.

Speakers included President Svein Arne Hansen, Vice President Jean Gracia and other European Athletics Council Members. They were supported by keynote speaker Frank Dick, founder of the Female Coaching Network Vicky Huyton and many specialists and experts.

The event was a great warm up for the series of meetings which followed with field events in focus at the Pole Vault and High Jump Symposium in Cologne, Germany, the 5th World Javelin

Conference in Kuortane, Finland and the Discus and Hammer Conference in Växjö, Sweden all in mid-November followed by the Endurance, Middle & Long Distance Summit in Skanderborg, Denmark. The series will come to a sprint finish in January in Loughborough, Great Britain with the International Festival of Athletics Coaching from 4-6 January.

Coaches play a central role in the development of athletes at all levels and it is important for the sport to provide support that ensures they are well trained and qualified, up to date with the latest practices and information, and properly motivated.

The management of coaches in athletics is the responsibility of Member Federations but European Athletics provides support through the promotion of the IAAF’s Coaches Education and Certification System in Europe, the Coaching Summit Series and the annual European Athletics Coaching Awards to recognise excellence in this field.

European Athletics launched its Coaching Summit Series in 2008 and the programme has been running ever since.

The summits bring together top athletes, leading coaches and sport scientists at venues where there is expertise or a strong tradition in a specific discipline.

The format for each summit comprises presentations, practical demonstrations, small group workshops, round table discussions and plenty of opportunities for the participants to discuss all aspects of their event with colleagues and stars from around the world.

European Athletics works closely with and provides financial support to the independent organisers of the summits, assuring participants a quality learning experience. Scholarships worth up to CHF 800 are available to help Member Federations send coaches to the summits. Scholarships can be put towards the travel and accommodation costs of participation in any of the conferences in the Coaching Summit Series and the European Athletics Coaches Association Festival of Athletics Coaching.

More information is available from Marc Sintes, Senior Member Federations Development Coordinator marc.sintes@european-athletics.org

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2018 European silver medallist Andreas Hofmann from Germany addresses the World Javelin Conference in Kuortane, Finland.

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EUROPEAN WEEK OF SPORT

RUNNING AROUND EUROPEFor the fourth successive year, European Athletics was a proud and committed partner of the European Week of Sport (EWOS) from 23-30 September which encouraged everyone across the continent – regardless of age, background and fitness level – to #BeActive.

A record total of 213 running events, over 30 more than in 2017, were held across 32 countries, reaching an estimated 230,000 people across the continent of Europe. Czech Republic was particularly proactive with 45 registered events held in the context of the European Week of Sport.

The Opening Ceremony this year took place in the Austrian capital city of Vienna on 22 September which coincided with the country’s annual Day of Sport. Many of Austria’s top athletics stars were on hand to sign autographs, including distance runners Andreas Vojta, Valentin Pfeil and Christian Steinhammer, sprinter Markus Fuchs, and multi-events exponents Ivona Dadic, Sarah Lagger and Dominik Distelberger.

As well as promoting physical activity, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, Tibor Navracsics also pointed to the role of sport – and the European Week of Sport – in being a force for good in improving mental health as well as physical health.

“Encouraging more people to be active is therefore important. It can help us tackle loneliness, a growing concern in our society. The European Commission’s in-house science and knowledge service, the Joint Research Centre, is analysing this topic as part of its work

on social fairness,” said Navracsics, who attended the Opening Ceremony in Vienna.

European Week of Sport has taken place each year since 2015 and has had a profound impact on the health and well-being of citizens across Europe. A wide cross-section of sports staged events in conjunction with the European Week of Sport. An estimated 12 million people took part across 34,000 events during the 2017 European Week of Sport and the organisers are hopeful that this figure will be surpassed in 2018.

The Czech Republic was especially proactive in organising events endorsing the #BeActive message throughout the country to go alongside the popular year-round RunCzech Series which gained certification from European Athletics Running for All in 2018. Running for All certification provides runners of all abilities with the assurance that races are organised to a verifiable standard of safety, security and services.

European Athletics promotes and administers the standards and certification system of Running For All with its own recognisable brand, to create a welcoming, inclusive and informative community for runners and organisers alike.

The programme at the Danske Bank Vilnius Marathon incorporated the #BeActive Children's Run (pictured above) and the #BeActive Night Run. There was also a #BeActive Night Race in Larnaka, Cyprus, elicited an excellent response among participants.

Huge numbers take part in running events during the European Week of Sport.

STATE OF OUR SPORT

I could wax lyrical on what wonderful events both the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships and the multi-sport European Championships were, but most of you already know yourselves how successful they were, and coverage is also given to them elsewhere in this issue of Inside Track.

Instead I would like to focus of an important event that occurred behind-the-scenes in Berlin, one which will have a profound and positive effect on the immediate future of our sport in Europe.

in Berlin, we signed a new eight-year contract with our long-standing International Partner, the European Broadcasting Union, covering the period from 2020 to 2027 inclusive. The agreement (covered more fully on p25) provides us with an improved deal from previous contracts and strong incentives to continue as part of the multi-sport European Championships.

The EBU has been a partner of European Athletics since 1981 and it is gratifying that they wanted to continue and extend their relationship with us because such a long-term rights agreement is far from the norm.

Obviously, our relationship has a commercial aspect to it, but I think it reinforces what European Athletics has been saying in recent years, that athletics on television continues to be a very vibrant product. The contract also reflects the fact that European Athletics is continually looking to improve this product with a view to athletics remaining relevant and engaging across the range of our varied audiences.

The words in the last couple of sentences may seem like they have been repeated before, but I think it’s important to keep everybody – European Athletics, Member Federations, International Partners, local

STRATEGIC THINKING AND SECURITY FOR THE FUTURE

organisers of major events and all other stakeholders – focused on the goals for our sport.

This new contract finances most of European Athletics’ fixed costs until 2027 so it can be said that our medium-term future has been secured, although we must still guard against complacency, as the ‘last mile’ in covering the rest of our costs comes from marketing revenues which are the toughest to get.

Nonetheless, it allows us to think strategically about the development of our sport in Europe and put aside thinking about the next contract renewal for the moment.

For the first time, our contract with the EBU will allow us to distribute reserved rights content to stakeholders such as Member Federations, sponsors, media partners, and to the athletes themselves, many of whom are becoming ever more social media-savvy.

We realise that the social and digital media footprints of these stakeholders are crucial if we want to promote our sport and particularly support its appearance on free-to-air television – of which many channels are the EBU’s own partners – and we need the content to do this.

Consequently, a digital steering group comprising our own communications team, EBU staff, and external experts will guide us in this process of digital transformation in the coming years. We are very thankful to be working with EBU in this way, and we believe it will

European Athletics CEO Christian Milz looks back on six months spent ensuring the continental governing body’s future is more secure.

deliver a return on investment for them too, in terms of increased audiences.

To quickly cover some of our other behind-the-scenes activities in a very limited amount of space: there has been the ongoing SWOT analysis of our events and development activities, development of our Digital Strategy that ensures GDPR compliancy and further improvements in good governance and gender balance ahead of the 2019 Congress in Prague next April.

Although the year has not yet come to an end as I write this, I can confidently say 2018 should be seen as a very successful year for European Athletics.

Christian Milz, CEO of European Athletics

All four of the European Athletics Commissions held their regular meetings in the autumn continuing the important work of driving forward the agenda for change on behalf of President Svein Arne Hansen and the European Athletics Council.

MEMBER FEDERATION DEVELOPMENTThe Member Federation Development Commission (above), chaired by European Athletics Vice President Jean Gracia, held its biannual meeting in Vienna, Austria towards the end of September

Key topics during the wide-ranging three-day session included the European Athletics educational programme and strategy including the 2019 Education Plan, gender equality issues within the sport in Europe, sustainability, Member Federations and clubs’ governance. The members also discussed European Athletics’ running strategy which includes Running For All, the Global Running Day, the European Week of Sport and the 2019 European Running Business Conference which will be held in Prague in September.

Other topics on what was a very full agenda included the ways in which European Athletics and its Member Federations communicate and interact with IAAF Development, it also touched on IAAF governance and relations with external European bodies

such as the Council of Europe, European Commission and the EOC-EU Office.

In addition to these political bodies, the group also considered European Athletics’ relationships with various athletics organisations such as the European Masters Athletics, European Athletics Coaching Association, International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU), World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) and the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS).

EVENT AND COMPETITIONThe Event and Competition Commission (below), chaired by European Athletics Council and Executive Board Member Toralf Nilsson, held its biannual meeting from 28-30 September at the European Athletics Head Office in Lausanne.

The meeting was an opportunity for an extensive review of the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships from a competition and technical perspective, especially the competition format, qualification criteria and rules for the sprint events.

Among the other topics on the agenda, the qualification principles for the Paris 2020 European Athletics Championships were discussed. Qualification standards and conditions for the 2019 European Athletics U23 and U20 Championships, being held

in the Swedish cities of Gavle and Boras respectively, were considered as well.

Applications for the 2019 one-day outdoor permit meetings were reviewed along with the regulations for promotion and relegation following the 2019 European Athletics Team Championships, with a view to a new format of league structure to be implemented in 2021.

Also considered was a feasibility study for the integration of a European Athletics Trail Running Championships into the European Athletics event portfolio.

The concept of a European Athletics course and exam for Video Distance Measurement (VDM)/Photo Finish judges and International Starters was another area of discussion.

The different topics will now go for approval to the Executive Board and/or the Council, where relevant.

COMMISSIONS

COMMISSION MEETINGS REPORT

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COMMISSIONS

STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONSCommunication with Member Federations, the athletics world and the general public has been a vital component of the agenda for change driven by President Svein Arne Hansen. To carry on this work, the Strategic Communications Commission met for the seventh and final time in the 2015-2019 period in Pravets, Bulgaria in November.

Chairman Dobromir Karamarinov, First Vice President of European Athletics, led the group which comprised Olga Aksyonova, Ieva Blusina, Nikolin Dionisi, Robert Emmiyan, Marton Gyulai, Ieva Staponkute, Salih Münir Yaras, James Mulligan and Bill Glad. The Commission's agenda included the Latvian Athletic Association Focus Federation Project presented at the European Athletics Council Meeting in Budapest and the brand concept for the Europe vs USA match due to be held in Minsk in September 2019. Also on the agenda was the ongoing DNA project, European Athletics’ Digital Transformation, the European Relays project, a potential Ambassadors Programme, and 'I Run Clean'.

MEDICAL AND ANTI-DOPINGEuropean Athletics Medical and Anti-Doping Commission met in Paris in November under the chairmanship of Pedro Branco. Among the items on the agenda was a report on ‘I Run Clean’, a review of medical and anti-doping facilities at European Athleticsevents as well as an examination of testing and lab allocation through 2019 and beyond. The meeting considered the provision of training and mentoring for Doping Control Delegates and how they are communicated with along with the appointment and integration of Medical Delegates.

There was a follow up discussion of the Medical Seminar held in Berlin during the summer and a general review of medical and nutritional education together with a scientific update on long-term storage and other topics. The Medical and Anti-Doping Commission members are Ede Rutkovsky of European Athletics Staff, Benjamin Cohen, Fédéric Depiesse, Richard Driscoll, Jan Engstrom, Peter Hemmersback and Tiia Kuuranne.

ATHLETES COMMITTEESix athletes representing six countries were elected by their peers to the European Athletics Athletes Committee during the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships.

Joining the 2018-2022 Committee are long jumper Ivana Spanovic (SRB), sprinter Ivet Lalova-Collio (BUL), and middle-distance runner Hannah England (GBR). On the men’s side, middle-distance runner Marcin Lewandowski (POL) received the most votes and he will be joined by decathlete Janis Leitis (LAT), and sprinter Angel David Rodriguez (ESP).

The six elected members sit alongside two appointed members, one woman and one man. Greece's Periklis Iakovakis and Sweden’s Emma Green were appointed to the Committee by President Svein Arne Hansen

The new Athletes Committee held its first meeting in November and unanimously elected Periklis Iakovakis as its chair.

COUNCIL NEWS

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REPORT OF THE 152ND COUNCIL MEETING IN BUDAPEST

IAKOVAKIS APPROVED AS CHAIR OF THE ATHLETES COMMITTEEThe final composition of the European Athletics Athletes Committee which will serve until July 2022 was approved at the European Athletics Council Meeting in Budapest, Hungary from 2-4 November.

Greece’s Periklis Iakovakis was unanimously approved as Chair of the Committee and will also take his place on the European Athletics Council. “It is a great honour and responsibility to be Chair of European Athletics Athletes Committee for one more term. I will do my best to secure the future of the sport that we love!” said Iakovakis on social media.

Sweden’s Emma Green was also appointed to the Committee by President Svein Arne Hansen while the six remaining athletes – Hannah England, Ivet Lalova-Collio, Janis Leitis, Marcin Lewandowski, Angel David Rodriguez and Ivana Spanovic – were elected by their peers at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships.

The Athletes Committee is made up of eight members – four men and four women with two members appointed by the President – and meets twice each year. The main purpose of the committee is to act as the voice of elite athletes in Europe by addressing, discussing and making recommendations on all matters

of concern to elite athletes. The first meeting of the new Committee took place in Lausanne on 8 November.

CHANGES TO TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS STRUCTURE APPROVED BY COUNCILChanges to the structure of the European Athletics Team Championships were approved by the Council streamlining the Super League from twelve to eight teams in 2021.

These changes will have important ramifications on promotion and relegation across all leagues at the 2019 European Athletics Team Championships. The lowest five ranked teams from the Super League in Bydgoszcz will be relegated to the First League. Only the winning team from the First League in Sandnes will gain promotion into the Super League in 2021.

The change will be carried through to the other leagues. The five lowest ranked teams in the First League will be relegated to the Second League and only the winning team from the Second League will be promoted to the First League in 2021.

The five lowest ranked teams in the Second League in Varazdin will also be relegated to the Third League and only the winning team from the Third League will be promoted to the Second League in 2021.

At their Budapest meeting, members of the Council confirmed that a women’s 50km race walk will be added to the European Race Walking Cup programme in Alytus, Lithuania in June next year for the first time and Member Federations will be able to enter eight athletes, instead of six, in each relay at the European Athletics U18, U20 and U23 Championships, reflecting the changes implemented for the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships.

The Council approved the entry standards for the Boras 2019 European Athletics U20 Championships and the Gavle 2019 European Athletics U23 Championships and also approved the proposed one-day meeting outdoor circuit calendar (Race Walking, Premium, Classic, Special Premium and Area events) in 2019 as well as the calendar of major events from 2019-22.

Entry standards for the European U20 and U23 Championships can be found on the relevant competition pages on the European Athletics website. The 2019-22 European Athletics calendar can be found at www.european-athletics.org/calendar.

As well as the awarding of major events in 2020 and 2021, it was also confirmed the European Athletics Convention in 2020 will be held in Tallinn.

Greece's Periklis Iakovakis unanimously approved as Chair of the Athlete's Committee.

Council approves Athletes Committee chair and changes to championships structure.

ATHTECH18

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ATHLETICS DATA CONFERENCE

Gijon in Northern Spain was the venue for AthTech18, the third annual Athletics Data Conference which gathered together some of the leading technology experts in the sport over two days.

A wide variety of topics were covered but the three most crucial areas were: open standards and standardisation in formatting of athletics data; the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and competition management.

Supported by European Athletics, the two organisers of the conference Martin Alvarez-Espinar of local Technology Centre CTIC/W3C Spain and Andy Robinson of British athletics data company OpenTrack, looked at data standards within the sport and data sharing, providing proposals and suggestions for European-wide standardisation initiatives.

“By having standards, and making it mostly open data, we open the door to anyone, to do anything with the data, in real time,” said Robinson, explaining the rationale for moving towards standardisation.

“We speak a lot about a digital future but there is still no central data platform,” he added. “And some major athletics federations are still doing their rankings by hand.”

Legal counsel David Brunsdon, Head of Compliance at First Rate Exchange Services, took the delegates – from 18 different countries including representatives of 13 European Athletics Member Federations – through the implications of GDPR for athletics.

“GDPR was not designed for sport primarily," he explained, "It could have serious implications and we have to be aware of what those are,” reflected Brunsdon.

Robinson also looked at calendar management and the technology that could help standardise and harmonise athletics calendars at an international, national and local level as well as putting a cogent case for standardising facility information and producing a global calendar.

Spanish athletics federation Director of Competition, Anacleto Jimenez, a former European indoor 3000m gold medallist then gave a federation perspective, demonstrating the approach of one of the largest European Athletics Member Federations to service and competition management.

The conference was also a forum for commercial companies who not only showed and marketed their products but also took part in the discussion about data standardisation and facilities documentation.

Several companies demonstrated their timing systems and other innovations at the AthTech Run, a mixed gender and multi-age group road relay, held on the first evening over 10 laps (10x975m) of the nearby El Kilometrin alongside the Rio Piles in the city.

The conference was concluded by presentations on how organisations can work with the media to get the most out of their data by the well-known athletics writer and commentator Phil Minshull and the renowned statistician Mirko Jalava, who heads European Athletics statistics partner Tilastopaja.

“I see this conference shaping the way we bring new elements and new technology into athletics as well as helping Member Federations develop their own initiatives,” said European Athletics Technology Manager Nicolas Launois.

Adding a global perspective and providing an overview of the IAAF Digital Strategy was the IAAF Chief Information Officer, An Dang Duy, who commented as part of his keynote address on the opening morning: “This is a unique event, European Athletics are the only Area Association hosting such a conference; there is not anything like it anywhere else in the world.”

Duy elaborated on the IAAF Strategy to engage the sport’s audience, using data to propel innovative TV graphics as well as core issues such as at athlete and participant data and the moves towards a Universal ID.

3rd annual conference brought together leading technology experts in the sport over two days in the Spanish city of Gijon.

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NEWS IN BRIEF

FUTURE EVENT HOSTS ANNOUNCED

NEWS

Fingal in County Dublin, Ireland has been announced as the host of the European Cross Country Championships in December 2020. Dublin previously staged a very successful SPAR European Cross Country Championships in 2009.

The venue for the 2020 European Cross Country Championships will be the National Sports Centre Campus in Blanchardstown. The Athletics Ireland bid was supported by Fingal County Council, Sport Ireland and Irish state broadcaster RTE.

Athletics Ireland President Georgina Drumm and CEO Hamish Adams presented the bid in Lausanne with members of the LOC and Fingal County Council.

Hamish Adams said: "We are delighted to have secured the hosting of the SPAR European Cross Country Championships for 2020. We look forward to working with Fingal County Council, Sport Ireland and RTE to ensure the event is a world class experience for both athletes and spectators."

Fingal County Council Senior Executive Officer Mary Godwin added: “We look forward to working closely with Athletics Ireland and the other partners to ensure we host the best European Cross Country Championships to date."

It was also announced that the 2021 European Athletics U20 Championships has been awarded to the Estonian capital Tallinn. Tallinn was the host of the 2011 European Athletics U20 Championships and the 2015 European Athletics U23

Championships.In other event news, the Norwegian city

of Sandnes has been confirmed as the host of the 2019 European Athletics Team Championships First League in August 2019. Varazdin in Croatia will host the Second League and, after its successful staging of the 2018 European Mountain Running Championships, Skopje, FYR Macedonia will host the Third League.

The 2019 European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country will be staged in Albufeira, Portugal in February. Albufeira was the host of the ECCC Cross Country last year as well as in 2008 and 2014.

The 2019 European Champion Clubs Cup Track and Field Group A will take place in Castellon, Spain on 25-26 May and Tampere, Finland will host the 2019 ECCC Track and Field Group B again in May.

The Ukrainian city of Lutsk will host one of the most important competitions on the calendar for Europe’s top multi-events exponents, the European Combined Events Team Championships Super League, for the first time in July 2019, while the European Combined Events Team Championships First and Second League competitions will return to Ribeira Brava, on the Portuguese island of Madeira in July 2019.

Also in July, Zermatt will be the first Swiss town to stage the 2019 European Mountain Running Championships. Finally it was announced that, after a successful collaboration in 2018, the European 10,000m Cup will be staged in London

until 2020.

ONSIDE PROJECT PARTNERS MEET IN LAUSANNEThe House of European Athletics was the venue for the third full partner meeting of ONSIDE project partners. European Athletics has been an active partner in the project which is is co-funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ Collaborative Partnerships in Sport programme. It is designed to enhance the skills of sports officials across Europe.

The meeting looked at the results of research into the coaching workforce. Telephone interviews and an online survey of National Federations generated almost 250 responses across 50 sports. Results were analysed under key workforce development themes including: recruitment, retention, skills, education, and current challenges.

Delegates also debated levels and models of sport officials, led by Jan Vlasblom of NOC*NSF. They agreed a structure for the Occupational Descriptor of competency standards.

The next meeting of partners will be in Bucharest, Romania in March 2019 whe, they will finalise the first set of outputs.

Ben Gittus, EOSE Director of Standards, said: "The partners are working well as a team to tackle this challenging skills development project. The research phase has laid a solid foundation as we move in to year 2 of the project."

Julia Lee, Director at Sports Officials UK, said: "The two days have been really illuminating and it has highlighted the passion for sports officiating. The input from the partners and information gathered will be really useful to progress to the next stages of the project".

Great Britain's Mo Farah battled it out with Alemayehu Bezabeh of Spain at Dublin 2009

INSIDE TRACK | 25

NEWS IN BRIEF

EUROPEAN ATHLETICS AND EUROPEAN BROADCASTING UNION RENEW WORLDWIDE BROADCAST RIGHTS AGREEMENT

2019 EUROPEAN RUNNING BUSINESS CONFERENCE

European Athletics and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced the long-term renewal of their worldwide media rights contract extending the partnership, which began in 1981, through to the end of 2027.

The agreement covers the worldwide television and radio rights for European Athletics’ major events from 2020 to 2023 and 2024 to 2027 including the Paris 2020 European Athletics Championships.

The renewal also secures the services of Eurovision Media Services (EMS), the business arm of the EBU which, through

its production subsidiary Eurovision Production Coordination, will be Host Broadcaster for key events distributing a feed to rights-holding broadcasters over the Eurovision Global Network.

European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen said: “Athletics is a hugely popular sport and it is vitally important for its future that it continues to be showcased and promoted on free-to-air television. Our long-standing and valued partnership with the EBU ensures that this will remain the case.”

Christian Milz, CEO of European

Athletics, added: “We believe there is huge untapped potential on social and digital channels for traditional and new formats of athletics. We will look to develop these in partnership with the EBU in order to reach new audiences.”

Director of European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Sport, Stefan Kürten, commented: “This agreement utilises the full range of EBU services and will see the EBU and European Athletics build innovative solutions for a greater digital presence. We look forward to continuing to bring athletics alive for millions of fans."

The second edition of the European Running Business Conference will be held in the Czech capital of Prague from 6-8 September 2019

The European Running Business Conference took place for the first time in Frankfurt, Germany in October 2017 in conjunction with the annual Mainova Frankfurt Marathon.

Welcoming the announcement President Svein Arne Hansen said: "The 2017 European Running Business Conference attracted key stakeholders in the running industry not just from Europe, but from around the world. I’m sure there will be even more participants in 2019 now the word is out.”

The inaugural conference attracted 282 participants from 48 countries from across the globe. It was a huge success and had a major impact on European running. The feedback received by the organisers was also overwhelmingly positive with 99 per cent of the delegates saying that attending the conference had been a worthwhile and valuable experience.

Attendees in Frankfurt included race organisers, industry specialists, sponsors and media representatives for a two- day programme. Top speakers in 2017 included RunCzech President Carlo Capalbo, London Marathon CEO Nick Bitel, Golazo CEO Bob Verbeeck and

AIMS President Paco Borao. Another excellent roster will be assembled for Prague next September and announced in coming months.

The conference will be held alongside the popular Birell Prague Grand Prix on 7 September, one of nine RunCzech races due to take place in 2019 and one of seven to have received five-star certification from European Athletics Running for All in 2018.

During the Conference, MYLAPS Sports Timing will showcase timing solutions to enhance the event experience.

Registration is now open and places can be reserved at https://registration.mylaps.com/business-conference/

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS

26 | INSIDE TRACK

With the IAAF Council in Argentina and events and meetings throughout Europe, the past few months have been as busy as ever for President Svein Arne Hansen.1. JULY, Buenos Aires, Argentina with IAAF President Sebastian Coe and Vice President Sergey Bubka2. JULY, Tampere, Finland with Mike Powell at the World U20 Championships 3. AUGUST, Berlin, speaking at the Opening Ceremony of the European Athletics Championships4. SEPTEMBER, Vilnius, Lithuania for the Baltic Athletics Congress 5. SEPTEMBER, Belgrade, Serbia for the Balkan Athletics Congress6. SEPTEMBER, Kyiv, Ukraine with Deputy Prime Minister and President of Ukraine Athletics Federation, Ihor Hotsul 7. OCTOBER, Andorra with Minister of Culture & Sport and Efrem Roca from the athletics federation8. NOVEMBER, Marbella, Spain with IOC President Thomas Bach and EOC President Janez Kocijancic9. NOVEMBER, Podgorica, Montenegro celebrating 70 years since the founding of the Athletic Federation of Montenegro

THROUGH EUROPE AND BEYOND

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LOOKING AHEAD TO 2019

MINSK TO BE ULTIMATE DNA TESTDynamic New Athletics winning support as excitement grows.

Spanish-based club Andalucia won a Dynamic New Athletics test event which was held at the Complexo Desportivo in Vila Real de Santo Antonio, Portugal, earlier this year.

The European Games Minsk 2019 in June will mark the first international appearance of European Athletics Dynamic New Athletics (DNA), the action-packed mixed-gender team event format.

Three years in the making, DNA has been meticulously created to appeal to new audiences, especially young people, in a rapidly changing digital world.

“We are proud of traditional athletics – we don’t want to change our sport at all, we only want to showcase it in an innovative new way,” said Libor Varhaník, the European Athletics Council Member in charge of the project.

“We will incorporate new technologies and communicate it using storytelling and narrative. All the research showed us there is huge potential so now we must be brave and take the chance.”

For the first time ever, the building blocks of athletics – running, jumping and throwing – will combine to form part of the same event. DNA will feature mixed teams battling for supremacy in 10 intensely competitive events over only two hours. Only one team can win and it will all come down to the final event.

In addition to sports administrators, athletes are also throwing their support behind the new athletics concept.

At the recent 2018 European Athletics Convention in Lausanne, Greg Rutherford, Andrew Steele and Angel David Rodriguez endorsed DNA and other efforts to reach out to new and younger audiences.

Rutherford, an Olympic and world champion British long jumper, sees a huge difference in the current generation of athletics fans and the younger generation, and argues that much more needs to be done to connect to the latter.

“Where we need to innovate, in my opinion, is to bring in the new generation of potential athletics fans. In London recently at Wembley Stadium they had the e-sports world championships – and they sold out Wembley. Then we had the London Diamond League at the iconic Olympic Stadium and we got one man and his dog coming. We’re in a situation where we risk missing the boat by actually not engaging enough with the next generation. If we don’t change, athletics will fall way down the pecking order of sports to watch.”

400m specialist Steele had a warning for organisers of DNA: be brave going forward and always remain flexible.

“Do not be dismayed if it needs improving from version one, and have a continuous-release mindset that even if this has loads of problems, it doesn’t matter –

you have to do something,” he said. “Doing nothing in the sport is not an

option, the rot has set in, we need greater virality across social media to attract a younger audience and increase our audience and to get to an entirely new audience.”

The top 30 athletics nations in Europe are scheduled to compete at Minsk 2019 next June. Each team will feature up to 15 athletes and six reserves. There will be 30 medals up for grabs: gold, silver and bronze for the best team overall, and gold, silver and bronze for the best individual athletes in each of the nine disciplines.

HISTORIC EUROPE V USA MATCHMinsk's newly renovated Dinamo Stadium will also stage a historic head-to-head competition between athletics teams from Europe and the USA in September next year.

The match, which has echoes of similar competitions held in the 1960s, will take place in a relatively quiet year for international athletics.

President Hansen said: "In 2019 there are not many athletics competitions on the calendar apart from the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar. That is why we have decided on the date."

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