European Athletics Championships in Birmingham - Day 1 (10-08-2026)

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I arrive in Birmingham in the early afternoon. Unlike Budapest 2023, where I had also travelled on the morning of the first day, only few people on the plane are going to the European Championships, and even in the city there are not many signs of the event. In theory I would have the whole afternoon available, so much so that I even think I have time to have a look around; instead I manage to arrive late this time too. I think about taking the public bus, but then I find myself at the stop for the organisers’ shuttle: they have set up a zigzag queue system to manage the lines, but in reality there are very few people getting on, and there are many buses waiting that end up leaving almost empty. There is traffic too, so I arrive after 19:03, the start time, has already passed by a few minutes. On the way to the entrance there are lots of food stalls: I stop at the first one I come across, a German sausage stand, since there is no queue anywhere.

Until now I had thought everyone had arrived earlier, but once I get to the stadium I discover that there really are very few people: only the central stand on the straight opposite the finish is somewhat full; I am at the end of the first bend and my section will be no more than 20% full. I go to my seat even though there would be more comfortable ones, thinking that maybe it will fill up later, but instead it stays like this. I certainly was not expecting such desolation in what, at least until today, I thought was the European country where athletics is most popular. I also think that the spectators on the firstday of Rome 2024, which made people cry flop, would look like a lot here. Toward the end they will announce 13,600 people; I had thought even fewer.

 

 

I am in an excellent position: I can see the hammer very well and, above all, the triple jump, where the pits are right in front of me; the shot put fairly well too, since it is on my side, though in the other corner, even if during the final throws of the women’s race I will have the sun in my face. I will see the 100 and 100hs worse, instead, since they are on the opposite side, and here too with the sun in my face at the start. After the British, the largest group at first seems to me to be the Norwegians, but later I will notice a large group of Irish fans on the first bend. Near me there is a Belgian flag; I also see Danish and Portuguese ones, and for the 100m final the Swiss will appear. Instead, it really seems to me that I am the only one cheering for the Italians.

I enter the stadium when the women’s shot put is on the second throw, while the hammer qualifying has just begun. In the shot put, I already find the top three who will remain there until the end: Schilder–van Klinken–Mabry, whom I had also predicted in the “predictor” on the EA website. In any case I see the 20.52 with which Schilder consolidates the lead, which she will then improve on with her final throw. When we reach the fourth round, I discover that they follow the classic formula of 8 athletes in each of the last three rounds (instead of the 10-8-6 used at the World Championships). In the hammer there are two direct qualifiers, one in the first throw and one in the third, while Mori finishes last. Later, in the second group, Fantini opens with 70.59, which does not give her direct qualification (that would be 71.50), but is enough to take it for granted, so much so that I wonder whether she will continue: she does, but with two fouls. When we reach the second round, I realise that the Polish champion whose name I avoid writing, now forty-one years old, is also competing, as is the former Cuban world champion Yipsi Moreno, now Albanian: the former is no longer what she once was, but qualifies; the latter finishes last.

 

The track events begin with the heats of the 100m hurdles, without the best 12, as in all events up to 400m, and with swimming-style qualification based only on times. The announcer announces an Italian athlete whom, only because I know it can only be her, I understand to be Polzonetti. The usual awful English pronunciations: Carraro becomes “Elèna”, Guerra will be pronounced the Spanish way (“Gherra”), and I am not entirely sure what Mangione turns into; here too I understand it is her only because it cannot be anyone else. In any case, Polzonetti wins and the other Italians pass as well. Then come the women’s 100m semifinals, with the crowd warming up a little for the home athletes. In the first, Hunt goes under 11 seconds and Asher-Smith has to go through as a time qualifier; in the second, Dosso makes her 60m-runner’s start, but is then passed by the Swiss athlete Di Tizio-Frey, still finishing second in 11.11; in the third, Swoboda impresses (“Iva” for the announcer).

Meanwhile, the triple jump qualifying has begun: from the first jumps it is clear that the perspective leads one to overestimate the distances a little. It is therefore clear that Saraceni’s first jump is not much, but I had feared even worse: 13.79, though already before the end of the first round it is clear that it would not be enough. In the other group I miss Belgian Masson’s 14.35, but immediately afterward Derkach comes up and it is obvious straight away that it is a qualifying jump: 14.42, even more than I thought. Saraceni’s second jump is very good: it is clear that it is long already from where she lands after the step phase, and in the end it is 14.50, which will remain the best mark.

The event we had been most waiting for most begins: the men’s shot put. Fabbri throws first, goes well beyond the second tape, and I, thinking it marks 22 metres, think (and say) that the competition is already over. Instead, the tape is at 21 metres and the throw is 21.36, which could still be enough for gold. Ponzio throws fourth and with 20.76 moves into second place: I think we are well set for a clean sweep. Instead I miss Weir’s 21.12, which came during the presentation of the 5000m: after the first round it would be an Italian sweep. Fabbri improves with his second throw, but above all with his third, 22.31, which I do not see because it coincides with the finish of the 5000m. The fourth would be very long, so much so that he celebrates, but it is a foul; he will deliberately foul the last two as well, and they would have been enough for a medal. With his second throw the home athlete Lincoln moves into third place and the announcer draws the crowd’s attention to him, but in the fourth round he is overtaken by Sweden’s Petersonn. We reach the final throw with Ponzio sixth, 10 cm from bronze: the throw gives me hope, but it is a foul. It is nevertheless an Italian one-two.

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, the 5000m has taken place on the track: J. Ingebritsen is greeted with a roar at the presentation, probably not only from the Norwegians. The first 3 km are tactical, with the group stretched out but compact: Gressier around fourth or fifth position, Ingebritsen in the second half of the pack, so much so that after 3 km one starts to wonder whether it really is tactics. Then he moves up, but never goes to the front, to the point that one wonders whether he would be able to: on the final straight he shows that he is, overtakes Germany’s Bremm in the last 50 metres and wins.

 

 

Curiously, the track finals are interspersed with the women’s 3000m steeplechase heats. In both of them the finish comes before I even realise it; in the second, the Italian Colli competes, is already dropped halfway through the race and finishes last. Then comes the mixed 4x400m, a straight final. Soudassi starts well and seems among the leaders at least until the final straight, but after the first changeover we are already detached. From the second leg onward the battle is between the Netherlands, Great Britain and Norway: the latter wins with Jaeger on the final leg. Italy sixth. Then comes the grand finale: the women’s 100m. Swoboda remains in front for much of the race, but in the final part she is overtaken by Hunt, to the crowd’s delight. Dosso starts well, but never seems to be in contention for the medals: she finishes seventh, though bronze was only 0.06 away.