European Athletics Championships in Birmingham: a final balance

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The European Championships in Birmingham ended in the best possible way for Italy: 22 medals, only 2 fewer than the previous edition, where we were competing at home and, in an Olympic year, were giving the event greater priority than many others. Without Jacobs’s injury, we would almost certainly have won the same number of golds as in 2024 (okay, 2 of them in events that did not exist then). I watched four evening sessions live (one of them only partly, due to force majeure) and three morning sessions. Then I had to switch to watching on TV and, although Sky did a good job with the customized shots, it is never easy to adjust to seeing what broadcasters choose. This is my assessment as a spectator, speaking about things under the control either of the organizers or of European Athletics.

The ups

·        Shuttles: very convenient; on the way there there was never a queue, and on the way back, even when the queue was long (the longest was on Tuesday evening), it moved quickly, 20 minutes or a little more. And on top of that, we always travelled seated, unlike at other events where the route was also longer, from the Winter Olympics to the Ryder Cup

·       Food and drinks: there were many stands offering very different products and, from what I saw, all of them were good (some more, some less, of course). I ate Chinese, Spanish, German food and even a local speciality, the “Cornish Pasty”, a pastry filled with beer-braised meat and beans, which pleasantly surprised me, since, like most Italians, I have always thought that “culinary speciality” and “British” do not belong in the same sentence. The local media talked a lot about excessive prices, but to me they did not seem excessive at all for being inside an event (at the Ryder Cup everything was very expensive). Of course, for an Italian, pizzas starting at £15 are a shock, but they don't cost much less in restaurants. Most dishes were around £10–12. Drinks were cheaper, with beers around £8.

·        Medical station: of course, I would gladly have done without writing this paragraph, since I would have preferred not to have experienced it, but I must say they were very professional and kind. Of course, I benefited from being the only patient; I had the whole staff at my disposal. Incidentally, they never questioned whether my case was serious enough to require their intervention, whereas I had many doubts. Perhaps, however, they were a little too zealous in sending me to hospital afterwards as well, given that I stayed there until 3:45 in the morning.

 

The downs

·        Ticket management: there was a lot of talk about excessive prices, and in fact, at least for the first few days, they were excessive: £103 for the second tier, on the straight opposite the finish. However, I do not think the low attendance at the beginning can be explained by this alone, since cheaper places were also empty. In any case, the problem was not only the price: some sessions were first listed as sold out (and for that reason I had decided to stay only until Friday: I had also bought a ticket for Friday morning, but I knew it would be complicated to use it and in fact I tdid not), then became available again, but by then I had booked my flight and hotel. I also did not understand why on Thursday morning I had bought such a bad seat: the cost? I do not think so; I could have spent the same as on the other mornings. Were the other seats not available? Had I not understood from the map how bad it was?

·        Race walking events at the same time: I mention this even though I only watched them on TV because I think it must have been worse for live spectators: with four races taking place at the same time, and on top of that on a 1 km circuit, it is impossible to follow anything clearly.

·        Medal ceremonies: I do not like the double presentation of the medals, first immediately after the event and then in the “medal plaza”. The medal plaza itself was in an out-of-the-way position and almost looked like a town fair: the ones at Amsterdam 2016 and Rome 2024, which were similar, nevertheless looked better.

·        Shuttle booking: one drawback of the shuttles was that the booking procedure was a bit cumbersome: a separate transaction was needed for each session, and moreover, first all the alternatives were shown, from car parks to public transport; you had to choose and then book and pay. Then, one can discuss whether they could/should have included them in the price, as at many other events (e.g. the Winter Olympics), or perhaps allowed them to be purchased together with the ticket, even with a supplement.

 

 

 I have not talked about merchandising, because I have neither a particularly positive nor a particularly negative opinion of it. Most of the T-shirts (which were sold separately, together with other items from the sponsor) had the larger design on the back, and I do not like that: I bought the only one that was not so. As for the rest, nothing particularly original, but some designs were nice: I bought a tote bag.

 

 

 

 Speaking of aspects that do not depend on the organization, I was positively surprised by the atmosphere, which was much more international than at the 2017 World Championships, which were almost entirely a British event: local participation was such that it almost overshadowed the international one (except in race walking). On the negative side, I mention a personal episode that left a bitter taste in my mouth: a group of Swiss fans dressed in a very distinctive way (they were later seen on TV hugging Werro after her victory) did not want to be photographed, saying that I should have asked permission. Perhaps I could have: I did not do so partly out of shyness, partly because I think candid photos are the best. But in any case, not only were we in a public place, but they were people dressed in a way meant to be noticed. And above all, I do not think they reacted that way in front of the BBC cameras.

Europei di atletica a Birmingham: un bilancio finale

 Gli Europei di Birmingham si sono conclusi nel migliore dei modi per l'Italia: 22 medaglie, solo 2 in meno dell'edizione scorsa, dove giocavamo in casa e, in un anno olimpico, davamo una priorità maggiore all'evento rispetto a molti altri. Senza l'infortunio di Jacobs quasi sicuramente avremmo vinto addirittura gli stessi ori del 2024 (ok, di cui 2 in specialità che allora non c'erano). Io ho visto dal vivo quattro sezioni serali (di cui una solo in parte, per cause di forza maggiore) e tre mattutine. Poi sono dovuto passare a vederli in TV e, per quanto Sky abbia fatto un buon lavoro con le riprese personalizzate, non è mai facile adattarsi a vedere quello che sceglie la regia. Questo il mio bilancio da spettatore, parlando di cose sotto il controllo o degli organizzatori o di European Athletics.

I più

• Navette: molto comode, all'andata non c'era mai coda, al ritorno, anche quando la coda era lunga (il massimo è stato martedì sera) si smaltiva rapidamente, 20 minuti o poco più. E per di più si viaggiava sempre seduti, a differenza di altre manifestazioni dove il percorso era anche più lungo, dalle Olimpiadi invernali alla Ryder Cup.
• Ristorazione: c'erano tantissimi stand di prodotti molto diversi e, per quello che ho visto, tutti buoni (certo, alcuni più, altri meno). Ho mangiato cinese, spagnolo, tedesco e persino una specialità locale, la "Cornish Pastry", sorta di grosso panzerotto ripieno di carne alla birra e fagioli, che mi ha sorpreso favorevolmente, visto che, come la maggior parte degli italiani, ho sempre pensato che "specialità culinaria" e "britannica" non stiano bene nella stessa frase. I media locali hanno parlato molto dei prezzi eccessivi, ma a me non sembravano affatto tali per essere all'interno di una manifestazione (alla Ryder Cup sì che era tutto carissimo). Certo, per un italiano le pizze che partono da £15 sono uno shock, ma non è che nei ristoranti costino molto meno. La maggior parte dei piatti erano sulle £10-12. Più economiche le bevande, con birre sulle £8.
• Presidio medico: certo, avrei fatto volentieri a meno di scrivere questo paragrafo, in quanto preferirei non averlo sperimentato, ma devo dire che sono stati molto professionali e gentili. Certo, ero favorito dal fatto di essere l'unico paziente, avevo tutto lo staff a mia disposizione. Tra l'altro non si sono mai chiesti se il mio caso fosse sufficientemente serio da richiedere il loro intervento, mentre io invece avevo molti dubbi. Forse però sono stati un po' troppo zelanti a mandarmi anche in ospedale dopo, visto che ci sono rimasto fino alle 3,45 del mattino.

I meno

• Gestione dei biglietti: si è molto parlato dei prezzi eccessivi, ed effettivamente almeno per i primi giorni lo erano: £103 per il secondo anello, lato opposto all'arrivo. Non credo però che la scarsa affluenza all'inizio sia spiegabile solo con questo, visto che erano vuoti anche settori economici. Il problema comunque non è stato solo il prezzo: alcune sessioni sono prima state date per esaurite (e per questo avevo deciso di fermarmi solo fino a venerdì: avevo comprato il biglietto anche per venerdì mattina, ma sapevo che sarebbe stato complicato utilizzarlo e infatti poi non l'ho fatto), poi sono tornate disponibili, ma ormai avevo prenotato volo e albergo. Non ho nemmeno capito perché giovedì mattina avevo preso un posto così brutto: il costo? Non credo, avrei potuto spendere come le altre mattinate. Gli altri posti non erano disponibili? Dalla mappa non avevo capito quanto fosse brutto?
• Gare di marcia in contemporanea: ne parlo anche se le ho viste solo in TV perché penso che per gli spettatori dal vivo sia stato peggio: con quattro gare in contemporanea, per di più su un circuito di 1 km, non ci si capisce niente.
• Premiazioni: non mi piace la doppia consegna delle medaglie, prima subito dopo la gara e poi nella "medal plaza". La stessa medal plaza era poi in posizione defilata, sembrava quasi una sagra di paese: quelle di Amsterdam 2016 e Roma 2024, che pure erano simili, si presentavano meglio.
• Prenotazione delle navette: un difetto delle navette era che la procedura di prenotazione era un po' farraginosa: serviva una transazione separata per ogni sessione, e per di più prima di mostravano tutte le alternative, dai parcheggi ai trasporti di linea, dovevi scegliere e poi prenotare e pagare. Poi, si può discute se avrebbero potuto/dovuto comprenderle nel prezzo, come in tanti altri eventi (es. Olimpiadi invernali), o magari consentire di acquistarle assieme al biglietto, anche con supplemento.

Non ho parlato del merchandising, perché su di esso non ho un giudizio né particolarmente positivo, né particolarmente negativo. La maggior parte delle magliette (che erano vendute a parte, assieme ad altri capi dello sponsor) avevano il disegno più grande sulla schiena, e questo non mi piace: ho comprato l'unica che non era così. Per il resto, niente di particolarmente originale, ma alcuni disegni erano carini: ho comprato una borsa di tela.

Parlando di aspetti che non dipendono dall'organizzazione, mi ha sorpreso in positivo il clima, che è stato molto più internazionale rispetto ai Mondiali 2017, che erano quasi totalmente un evento britannico: la partecipazione locale era tale che oscurava quasi quella internazionale (tranne che nella marcia). In negativo, cito un episodio personale che mi ha lasciato l'amaro in bocca: un gruppo di tifosi svizzeri vestiti in modo molto particolare (si sono poi visti in TV abbracciare la Werro dopo la vittoria) non hanno voluto farsi fotografare, dicendo che avrei dovuto chiedere il permesso. Magari avrei potuto: non l'ho fatto un po' per timidezza, un po' perché penso che le foto rubate siano le migliori. Ma in ogni caso, non solo eravamo in un luogo pubblico, ma si trattava di persone vestite in modo da farsi notare. E soprattutto, non penso abbiano reagito così davanti alle telecamere della BBC.

European Athletics Championships in Birmingham - Day 4 (13-08-2026)

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It was a long day, with the two sessions almost running into each other, and an intense evening, finally in an almost full stadium. Of course, it was more memorable for the Germans and the Irish, but we still won a gold, even if it could have gone even better. I remember what I used to write when we won a gold in 2014 or 2016 (I mean social media posts; this blog did not exist yet); today it has become ordinary business (winning it, not writing about it).

Let's start with the evening: I hoped I would manage to see at least part of Group A of the decathlon javelin, the one with the athletes in the bottom half of standings, including the Italians, but already on the shuttle I realized I would not make it: I saw the last throws on the screen just after entering. So I found myself with half an hour of free time: I took a walk around the kiosks, but did not get anything; I was not hungry, and there was too much of a queue for drinks. My seat was almost halfway down the back straight, second tier: I was in an excellent position for the triple jump and also for the discus, decent for the pole vault. Near me were Germans, Romanians, Spaniards and (I would discover near the end) Belgians. Lower down, Poles and Lithuanians. Around the place, the usual Irish, Swiss and Finns. I would later notice that in the next section there were three Italian athletes, whom I did not recognize: I know one was Muraro because I read the accreditation badge. Naturally, in all this I am not counting the British, who are always in the majority. This, however, can be noticed from the cheering, but not from the flags: the British have very few of them; theirs is not among the three most common in the stadium, which are 1) Ireland, 2) Switzerland, 3) Finland. Finally the stadium was fairly full; the stand on my side was almost completely full, the bends largely so, only the upper tier on the finish side was almost empty: in the end they would announce 20,400 people. And finally you could feel the atmosphere, much more than yesterday as well: I would notice many results from the roar of the crowd; in the previous days it would have been harder.

It started with Group B of the decathlon javelin, dominated by Kaul: rarely had I seen a throw so far beyond the last tape (it was 73.74, while the tape was at 65 metres). Kaul was thus second behind Neugebauer: the German one-two was by now certain, but with Kaul sixth after the first day, it had already been clear it would end this way. We then came to the key event for us: the women's triple jump. The men's 200 heats were scheduled first, but the triple jump started early (20:02 instead of 20:15). I could see the take-off very well, but I could not really get much of an idea of the distance. Derkach jumped second, after Masson's 14.15: a beautiful jump, one that was immediately clearly much longer: 14.53. She ended the first round 30 cm in front: the only one who had given me the impression she could trouble her was the Turkish athlete Danismaz, who had fouled. Apart from Saraceni, because of what she had done in qualifications (I had even picked her as the winner in the predictor), but her first jump had been really poor. I had barely had time to think that when, in the second round, the Bulgarian Nacheva jumped 14.40, and in the third the Belgian Guisse 14.37. Saraceni had a clear foul on her second jump and, on the third, one that seemed a little better than the first, enough to give me some hope that it might reach the 14.04 needed for eighth place (at that point); instead it was only 13.48. In the fourth round Guisse moved up to 14.46, but I remained convinced that Derkach could do more, and indeed she jumped 14.60. I thought it was now done, and in fact it ended that way. We are at 6 medals, 3 of them gold: until 8 years ago this would have seemed an excellent result for an entire European Championships, especially if only stadia events were counted. Now we have reached it with 3 days still to go, and it almost does not move us.

 

 

In the meantime, in the 200 semifinals, the Italians had made an excellent impression: Desalu had dominated, Dozza had stayed with the group and finished fourth with a personal best, Longobardi had come third by thousandths, but had still advanced as a non automatic-qualifier. This was what I believed from watching the races: I would later discover that Dozza and Longobardi had been swapped; the finalist was Dozza.

 

The men's discus and women's pole vault also began: with three field events and the track races, it was hard to follow everything. Naturally, as long as the triple jump was still going on, I followed the other field events distractedly. In the discus, coming back from the bathroom, I saw the measurement of Ceh's throw at 70.83, a championship record. I missed it, however, when he improved again to 72.51. The pole vault, curiously not placed at the start of the programme, began at 4.30 with no one eliminated; at 4.45 there were 2 eliminations, at 4.60 6 remained, at 4.70 there were 3 plus one athlete who had saved an attempt. While following the field events, I also missed the fall at the last water jump in the women's 3000 steeplechase, won by my former fellow resident (of Frankfurt) Krause.

After the decathlon 1500, which sealed the German one-two, Dester's 11th place and Nonino's last place, came the other race in which we had hopes, the men's 800. Those hopes increased when I read that Burgin was not starting. This time Pernici stayed at the back of the group, so much so that I feared he had nothing left after two hard rounds. Instead, on the final straight he came back, and for a moment I fooled myself into thinking he might reach the podium. Instead he seemed to be fourth, and at first the scoreboard also listed him as such; then he turned out to be fifth, with the podium 6/100 away. As expected, the Irish celebrated with English. The track programme closed with the women's 200: Asher-Smith reached the straight in the lead and for a while held off Hunt's comeback, but in the end she was passed by her and by Adereke of Ireland.

 

 

 

The programme, however, was not over: the pole vault still had three athletes in the competition. They were at 4.80, after Hentala and Moser had cleared 4.75 and Bonvin had saved two attempts. Moser cleared it at the first attempt; Hentala and Bonvin saved attempts, all of which they failed. Moser was therefore champion with two attempts left at 4.85, which she decided to take anyway. I saw the first, narrowly missed, then I left. From the crowd's reaction I understood that she had also missed the third. I stopped to get a Cornish pastry, which was really good, then I queued for the shuttle, where I heard first the German anthem, then the Italian one for the medal ceremonies. I met two Swedes and asked them an old curiosity of mine: how Duplantis gets on with Swedish. They told me well; he always gives interviews in Swedish.

There had been a morning session earlier, which I had watched from the third-to-last row high above the second bend. I had tried to sit a few rows lower, but then the rightful owner arrived. I was in a good position for pole vault, the 200 bend and the steeplechase water jump, but a terrible one for discus and especially high jump, on the opposite side. It was even worse with the scoreboards: I could see the back of one, and the others were so far away that I struggled to read them even with binoculars.

After the decathlon 110 hurdles, of which I had missed the first heat, the women's high jump qualifying began. This time the progression was almost too slow: 1.75 with no misses, 1.80 with only two misses in total, first eliminations at 1.84; after 1.88 there were still 21 in the competition, including Mahuchikh, who had not yet jumped, 16 of them with no misses, including the three Italians. They got to the qualifying height of 1.91, and 15 cleared it, including Pieroni and Tavernini.

On the track there had been the men's 200 and 3000 steeplechase heats, with all the Italians going through. Then came the women's 800 semifinals: in the first I saw Werro's fall, but I was certainly not in a position to judge whether she deserved to be reinstated or not; in the second Coiro firmly held third place behind Hodgkinson and Bol. The track programme had ended with the women's 400 semifinals, of an insane level: 5 under 50 seconds, and Polinari, with 50.62 (a time faster than those with which Grenot had won two titles in the previous decade), was not even the first of those eliminated.

 

 

 

Once the track events were over, the decathlon pole vault remained. I went to get something to eat and realized that almost everyone left had migrated to the covered stands, given the great heat. I decided to do the same: after all, I had never seen anyone, not even in the evening, check that people went to their assigned seats. As is now customary, the groups were staggered: one began the pole vault while the other was still contesting the discus. Unlike usual, however, this time they started with the weaker group, which included Dester. The Italian was one of the last to enter the competition, at 4.50: he cleared it, then returned at 4.70, but withdrew after one miss. For a while the two groups remained at the same heights, because the second started at 4.60, which was exactly where the first was at that moment. Then the second slowed down; it was not clear what was happening: Neugebauer, who had failed three times at 4.80, was allowed to repeat an attempt, and this time he made it. After seeing Nonino clear 4.90, I decided to leave. I also left the javelin qualifying behind, after one round of the second group and with both Italians out: I would later discover that Frattini had improved and had qualified.

 

From tomorrow I will watch the races on TV: I'm depressed by the idea of seeing what broadcasters choose.

European Athletics Championships in Birmingham - Day 3 (12-08-2026)

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This time, even for the morning session, there is already a bit of a queue at the entrance and my block is almost full, although others remain empty (and some of the empty ones were among the cheapest, so it does not seem that the main issue is the price): overall, for a morning session, there is a crowd. It is a combined events day, so the crowd is different from the other days: there are many Estonians and Germans, two Dutch people next to me, then the usual Swiss and Irish fans, probably the only ones not here mainly for the decathlon. I am in the seventh row, toward the beginning of the back straight: I can see the decathlon long jump very well, even though I cannot see the measuring board of the runway closest to the stand, the one for group B, and I cannot really make out the distances on the other one either.

 

 This time I arrive a little before the start: I can therefore follow the three heats of the heptathlon 100 metres, with Dester finishing sixth, ahead of all the favourites. The women’s discus qualifying also begins, and I am in an excellent position for that too. In the first group there are Meline Robert-Michon, 47, and Liliana Cà, almost 40, and both will qualify. The second group will be of a slightly lower standard, with 5 qualifiers compared with 7, and unfortunately Daisy Osakue will contribute to lowering it: first throw into the cage, second outside the sector (and it would have been short anyway), the third looks well on its way, so much so that I think “finally”, but it lands at 57.41. And to think that 58.48 would have been enough to pass.

 

Then comes the decathlon long jump. As I said, I can see the run-up and take-off very well, and also the athletes coming over to speak with their coaches. There are football-style chants for Neugebauer, who opens with 7.61 and improves to 7.82 on his third jump. Skotheim responds with 7.80. For two jumps Nonino is the bettewr of the Italians with 6.91, then Dester manages 7.12 (I should mention that there is always a  sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker).

 

Meanwhile on the track there are the heats first of the women’s 400 metres, then of the women’s 200 metres. All the Italian women go through: in the 400, Bonora impresses, third in 51.27 in the fastest heat (in any case, only the time counted); in the 200, Kaddari runs her first convincing race of the season, winning in 23.14. In both cases, I wait to read the result to be sure it was them. The 800 metres semi-finals follow: in the second one Pernici leads from the front, but is caught in the closing stages. I think he has finished third, but then I see he is fifth and start swearing because I think he is out despite 1:43.84. Only when they show the summary do I understand that there were only two semi-finals, so he is in the final.

 

After the 800 metres the stadium begins to empty. I start thinking about moving toward the end of the straight to follow the decathlon shot put better, and when the discus also finishes I do so. The men’s 400 metres hurdles semi-finals are still to come too, but it makes little difference watching them from one side or the other. The stronger group is the one farther from my stand and it is not very easy to see even from here. At the same time as the finish of one semi-final, I glimpse Neugebauer taking the championship best performance away from Daley Thompson with 17.31. Meanwhile, in the 400 metres hurdles, Sibilio barely hangs on to second place; third would not have been enough, and Warholm controls the race.

In the evening my seat is on the opposite side compared with the other days: it takes me much longer to reach it and I see an area I had never seen before. I am just past the finish line: at a major championship I have only been this close in Doha. So I can see very well, besides the 110 metres hurdles, the decathlon high jump, while for the hammer I can see the trajectory well, but not so much the throw itself, because the circle is hidden by the high jump areas. The stand around the finish area is full, the opposite one less so, but there are still more people than on the other days. In my row there are Dutch and Belgian spectators, farther ahead Germans and Poles, and many Finns around, as they have two favourites in the hammer. The eclipse cannot be seen (and I had even bought the special glasses), it is cloudy, but there is still a strange light.

 

I arrive when only the heptathlon high jump is under way, and it has not been going on for long: group A is at 1.93, group B, with the Italians, at 1.87. Dester looks very secure up to 1.96, clears 1.99 with a little difficulty, but still on his first attempt, then stops there, but he is still second in the group and eighth overall. Nonino does what he has to do and stops at 1.93. I then watch the 110 metres hurdles semi-finals, with the incredible elimination of Asjer Martinez (and also of the other Spaniard), but above all I see Fantini’s hammer land close to the second marker tape which, as I had imagined, was at 75 metres: 74.97, five metres more than the second best. At the end of the first round she was still leading by a metre and a half, then Kosonen overtook her. I stayed until halfway through the third round, with the other favourite, Tervo, definitely eliminated.

 

 

My evening of athletics ended early: I was not feeling very well (I was struggling to breathe) and decided to be checked over. Everything worked out for the best, they were extremely kind, and I am better now. They also took me through areas reserved for the athletes, and I saw some of them up close, including Neugebauer. I also learned that there is a room reserved for combined events athletes.