The European Athletics Championships opened today at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, with athletes from 49 nations competing for 50 gold medals over seven days. It is the first time in the event's 92-year history that Great Britain has hosted the championships.
According to BBC Sport, Britain has sent a team of 94 athletes to the competition and will be hoping to return to the top of the medals table after finishing third at Rome 2024. The British team topped the medals table at the last five championships held on the European continent, winning in Brussels in 1950, Budapest in 1998, Zurich 2014, Berlin 2018, and Munich 2022.
Among the British athletes competing are 800m defending champion Keely Hodgkinson, sprinter Dina Asher-Smith, Birmingham-born Matthew Hudson-Smith, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Amy Hunt, Georgia Hunter Bell, and team captain Jake Wightman.
At Rome 2024, Italy won 11 golds and 24 total medals to top the table. France finished second with four golds and 16 medals overall. Great Britain took third, with Asher-Smith winning gold in the 100m, Hodgkinson winning the 800m, and gold also going to the women's half marathon team and the women's 4x100m relay squad.
One new addition to the program this year is a mixed 4x100m relay, appearing at the European Championships for the first time. The full competition features 10 world champions and seven Olympic champions among the field.
Several athletes are chasing history. Sweden's Armand Duplantis, Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen, and Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou are each seeking a fourth consecutive European title. Hodgkinson, Italy's Marcell Jacobs, and Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh are all targeting three in a row.
Asher-Smith has a chance to become the most successful athlete in the history of the championships. The 30-year-old sprinter has won six European golds and two silvers across four championships. One more gold would put her ahead of Croatian discus thrower Sandra Elkasevic, who holds the record with seven golds. Asher-Smith is expected to compete in three events. She could also surpass Polish sprinter Irena Szewinska as the most-decorated European athlete of all time. Szewinska won 10 total medals between 1966 and 1978.
Hudson-Smith also has a personal milestone within reach. The sprinter, who has a stand at Alexander Stadium named after him, has four golds and seven total medals in the championships. One more medal would tie him with France's Christophe Lamaitre as the most-decorated male athlete in the event's history.
BBC coverage will run across BBC One, BBC Two, BBC iPlayer, Radio 5 Live, the BBC Sport website, the BBC Sport app, and the BBC Sport social media channels including YouTube. Competition continues through August 16.
