Amy Hunt, Daryl Neeta and Dina Usher-Smith could be in contention for European 200m medals on August 13 next year.
Thursday night at the 2026 European Athletics Championships promises to be one of the best sessions of the week, especially if you’re a fan of the women’s games.
Molly Codery is likely to return home with British hopes in the pole vault final, while there are also finals in the women’s triple jump and 3000m.
The highlight, however, may be the women’s 200m final, with Britons such as Amy Hunt, Daryl Neeta and Dina Asher-Smith battling it out for gold.
Hunt had a brilliant run at the world championships in Tokyo in September when she took a surprise silver medal behind Melissa Jefferson-Wooden of the USA.
At the last European Championships in Rome two years ago, however, Neita fell inches short of winning the 200m title as she lost to Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji by just one-hundredth of a second.
Then there’s Usher-Smith, the 2019 world champion and current British record holder.
Women have not always been in the spotlight at these championships. The first European event in Turin in 1934 had no women’s competition at all. In 1938, the second European Championship for women was held in Vienna, two weeks after the men’s competition in Paris.
When women’s events were finally held at the same venue as men’s in Oslo in 1946, there were only four women’s races, one of which was the sprint relay, plus five field events.
How times have changed. Women’s athletics has boomed in recent years, and gradually events that were once male-only were added to the women’s program, such as the pole vault, hammer, sprint and 10,000m.
This means it will be a celebration of women’s athletics at the Alexander Stadium on Thursday 13 August with four brilliant finals to look forward to.
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Thursday August 13th isn’t quite a ‘ladies night’. Of course, there are some men’s finals, including the discus, 800m and decathlon finals.
That’s why tickets for that session are in high demand. So hurry up and book yours now.
Tickets are still available available here.
