28,000 runners! First ever European Running Championships is a huge hit.
European Athletics President Dobromir Karamarinov hailed the success of the first ever European Running Championships in Brussels-Leuven on 12-13 April.
For the first time ever, mass participants could compete in an official European Athletics championship event with elite athletes and they responded in huge numbers in 10km, half marathon and marathon events where winners included Italy’s Nadia Battocletti and France’s Jimmy Gressier.
Among a total entry of 28,000, there were 12,500 entered for the marathon, running from Brussels to Leuven on Sunday, making it the largest marathon ever to have taken place in Belgium. King Philippe was the official race starter for the historic race.
European Athletics President Dobromir Karamarinov hailed the success of the first ever European Running Championships in Brussels-Leuven on 12-13 April.
For the first time ever, mass participants could compete in an official European Athletics championship event with elite athletes and they responded in huge numbers in 10km, half marathon and marathon events where winners included Italy’s Nadia Battocletti and France’s Jimmy Gressier.
Among a total entry of 28,000, there were 12,500 entered for the marathon, running from Brussels to Leuven on Sunday, making it the largest marathon ever to have taken place in Belgium. King Philippe was the official race starter for the historic race.
See the best athletes at the Madrid 2025 European Team Championships
Weekend passes and one day tickets are available to the European Athletics Team Championships Division 1 in Madrid on 27-29 June, where the best European athletes will represent their home nations to be the best team in the continent.
Italy will be seeking to defend the title they won Silesia 2023 for the first time in their history. They will face the best of Czechia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden Switzerland and Ukraine.
Norway’s Karsten Warholm began his 2025 season in formidable form by smashing his world best in the 300m hurdles in the Xiamen Diamond League on 26 April.
The three-time world and European 400m hurdles champion blasted to victory in 33.05, shaving 0.21 off his previous world best which he set in 2021 in the weeks leading up to the Olympic Games in Tokyo where he set the existing world 400m hurdles record of 45.94.
“It is the level I am pushing for and that is where I want to be so this shows that the speed is there and the speed over the hurdles is there,” said Warholm.
Tickets are now available for the Bergen 2025 European Athletics U23 Championships, which take place in the Norwegian city on 17-20 July. The fifteenth edition of the championships will be taking place in Norway for the first time ever.
The 2023 event in Espoo featured Markus Rooth (Norway) who went on to win the Olympic decathlon the last year, Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson (Great Britain), men’s discus world record holder Mykolas Alekna (Lithuania) and World indoor and European indoor 60m gold medallist Jeremiah Azu (Great Britain).
Today (29 April) marks the 100 day countdown to the European Athletics U20 Championships which return to Tampere in Finland from 7-10 August.
Finland has been a regular venue for major age-group events in recent decades and this will be the fourth time that Tampere – the country’s second biggest city by population – will have staged a major event this century.
WR holder Perez set for European Race Walking Team Championships
Spain has named a typically strong team for the European Race Walking Team Championships in Podebrady, Czechia on 18 May.
The 22-strong team is headed by double world champion and Olympic mixed relay champion Maria Perez who won the 35km race walk in Podebrady two years ago in a world record of 2:37:15, a mark that still remains on the record books.
Europe’s leading distance runners will be targeting individual and team honours and maybe even qualification for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, at the European 10,000m Cup which takes place in Pacé, France on Saturday 24 May.
Hosts France have named a strong team for this year’s event, featuring recent European half marathon bronze medallist Valentin Gondouin on the men’s side and Paris 2024 Olympians Alessia Zarbo and Melody Julien on the women’s side.
New firsts at High Performance Conference in Madrid
The European Athletics High Performance Conference took place in Madrid from 4–6 April, uniting top minds in sport science, coaching, and innovation.
Opening remarks from European Athletics President Dobromir Karamarinov and Spanish Federation President Raúl Chapado set the tone for a dynamic exchange of expertise.
For the first time ever, the conference was open to sports professionals outside of athletics, welcoming nearly 100 participants from across Europe, including a core audience from Member Federations and other organisations and experts.
On Earth Day (22 April), European Athletics celebrated the success of the European Running Championships held in Brussels-Leuven on 12–13 April—and the bold example it set in sustainability and environmental responsibility.
With over 28,000 participants and more than 300 elite athletes across the marathon, half marathon, and 10 km, the championships were designed to be a benchmark for sustainable sports events.
