Inside Track Newsletter of European Athletics December 2018
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INSIDE TRACK NEWSLETTER OF EUROPEAN ATHLETICS DECEMBER 2018 European Athletics Convention Young Leaders in Berlin Athletics Data Conference Looking ahead to Glasgow & Minsk GOLDEN COUPLE Kevin Mayer and Dina Asher-Smith crowned Athletes of the Year 2017 EUROPEAN ATHLETICS CONGRESS Middle distance champion Laura Muir introducing mascot "Scottee'. 3000m double, setting championship GLASGOW 2019 JUST records in both events. She was one of the first high-profile athletes to publicly confirm her participation in Glasgow, although her AROUND THE CORNER racing schedule during the championships is yet to be fully confirmed. Muir is an ambassador for Glasgow A look ahead to the Glasgow 2019 European Athletics 2019 and has been active in promoting Indoor Championships. the championships. Days after winning the European outdoor 1500m title in Berlin, Great Britain has staged a succession track cycling and the badminton events. she helped to launch the 200 Days To Go of highly acclaimed major events in The Emirates Arena has placed Glasgow Countdown and was present at Crookston recent seasons – including the IAAF World firmly on the international sporting Castle Primary School in October when Championships London 2017 and the IAAF map with World Cup gymnastics, UCI ‘Scottee' the Scottie dog mascot was World Indoor Championships Birmingham track cycling and Davis Cup tennis all officially unveiled. 2018 – and the spotlight will be on the having taken place there over recent The organisers are expecting nearly Scottish city of Glasgow from 1-3 March. years. The SPAR British Indoor Athletics 20,000 people - including fans, athletes, This will be the third European Athletics Championships is staged at the Emirates officials and media - to attend the Indoor Championships staged in Great Arena in alternating years with Arena championships. Britain since its inception in 1970. Glasgow Birmingham and athletics will take centre When they are not watching the athletics hosted the event in 1990 when Linford stage once again in March. action, visitors can visit world-renowned Christie (60m) and Tom McKean (800m) The timing of the championships is ideal free-to-enter museums including the won on home soil, before Birmingham from a domestic standpoint with Scottish Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum – hosted the championships in 2007. athletics enjoying a resurgence courtesy recently ranked as one of Britain’s leading The 1990 European Indoor of Laura Muir, Callum Hawkins, Eilish art museums – and the Riverside Museum, Championships were staged in Glasgow’s McColgan, Eilidh Doyle, Jake Wightman, and take in other attractions like Glasgow Kelvin Hall, but next year’s event takes Chris O’Hare and countless others in recent Cathedral, George Square and the Glasgow place at the recently built multi-sport seasons. Botanic Gardens. Emirates Arena. The 5500-seater stadium Muir was one of the stars of the last Tickets for the European Indoor was completed in 2012 for the 2014 European Indoor Championships in Championships can be bought from Commonwealth Games when it staged the Belgrade where she won a 1500m and www.glasgow2019athletics.com/tickets. CEO: Christian Milz Co-ordination: Design, Production, Print: James Mulligan, SportBusiness Communications Office: European Athletics Communication Gautam House, 1-3 Shenley Ave, Avenue Louis-Ruchonnet 16 Department Middx, HA4 6BP, United Kingdom CH-1003 Lausanne Phone +41 (0)21 313 43 57 Phone +44 (0)1494 728842 European Athletics Switzerland [email protected] [email protected], Pensord Association Européenne d’Athlétisme Phone +41 (0)21 313 43 50 Press, UK Text, Photos: President: Svein Arne Hansen Fax +41 (0)21 313 43 51 [email protected] James Mulligan, Phil Minshull, Steven Follow us: Vice Presidents: Mills, Phil Savage, SportBusiness facebook.com/EuropeanAthletics 2 | INSIDE TRACK www.european-athletics.org Dobromir Karamarinov Communications, Svein Arne Hansen, @euroathletics Frank Hensel Inside Track is published by European Christian Milz, Andy Heading, Getty YouTube/European Athletics Jean Gracia Athletics Images, Event Organisers Instagram.com/europeanathletics WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT AUF WIEDERSEHEN BERLIN, HELLO TILBURG AND GLASGOW 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 INSIDE TRACK | 3 GOLDEN TRACKS MAYER AND ASHER-SMITH SHARE ATHLETES OF THE YEAR HONOURS World decathlon record-holder and triple European sprint champion crowned at the Golden Tracks award ceremony in Lausanne. World decathlon record-holder Kevin Mayer and triple Mayer began his season by winning the world indoor European sprint champion Dina Asher-Smith were crowned heptathlon title in Birmingham with a world-leading score of 2018 European Athletes of the Year at the Golden Tracks award 6348. The Frenchman’s assault on the European decathlon title ceremony at the SwissTech Convention Center in Lausanne, came to a premature end with three fouls in the long jump but Switzerland. he returned with a vengeance the following month, improving The annual end-of-season award ceremony which celebrated the world record to 9126 points on home soil at the Decastar a superlative year of athletics was presented by Andy Kay and meeting in Talence. 2016 European long jump silver medallist, Jazmin Sawyers, and "It was a great disappointment and two days after Berlin, I was streamed live across European Athletics’ digital platforms, just wanted to go back onto the track. This is my passion. I was reaching all 51 Member Federations. disappointed for two days, but I just had to get back on the Mayer became the third Frenchman to be named men’s track,” he said, reflecting back on a tumultuous month. European Athlete of the Year after Christophe Lemaitre in 2010 Asher-Smith became the fourth British recipient of the and Renaud Lavillenie in 2014. The 26-year-old received the women’s European Athlete of the Year trophy after Sally Gunnell accolade ahead of European champions Armand Duplantis from won the inaugural award in 1993, followed by Kelly Holmes in Sweden, Jakob Ingebrigtsen from Norway and Ramil Guliyev 2004 and Jessica Ennis-Hill in 2012. from Turkey, and was presented with his trophy by European Asher-Smith received her trophy from IAAF President Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen.