European Athletics announced on Wednesday (27) that all divisions of the European Athletics Team Championships will be part of the European Games 2023.&nbsp;
The European Athletics Team Championships is the world&rsquo;s premier&nbsp;team competition between nations, with promotion and relegation&nbsp;at stake between the various divisions.
As part of the agreement between European Athletics and the European Olympic Committees, all divisions of the Team Championships will be contested back-to-back at the Slaski Stadium in the Region of Silesia the venue for the 2021 European Athletics Team Championships Super League &ndash; with the concept &lsquo;under one roof&rsquo; thus providing a feast of top-class European team athletics.&nbsp;
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European Athletics Interim President, Dobromir Karamarinov,&nbsp;said: &ldquo;We have been discussing&nbsp;with the&nbsp;European Olympic Committees&nbsp;for some time now about&nbsp;integrating&nbsp;the European Athletics Team Championships&nbsp;to&nbsp;become&nbsp;a key part of the European Games in 2023. The European Athletics Council approved this move last month.
&ldquo;Now, thanks to the agreement with the European Olympic Committees and the local authorities in Silesia, with whom we already have an excellent relationship, we can continue&nbsp;with the detailed planning of the format of the championships and finding the right dates within the&nbsp;European Games&nbsp;window of 21 June to 2 July in 2023.
&ldquo;I would like to take this opportunity to thank the European Olympic Committees President Spyros Capralos for the positive and speedy discussions between our two organisations that have led to this agreement,&rdquo; concluded Karamarinov.&nbsp;
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European Athletics CEO, Christian Milz, said: &ldquo;The addition of the European Athletics Team Championships to the programme of the European Games 2023 is a &lsquo;win-win&rsquo; situation for both European Athletics and the European Olympic Committees. We will deliver a top-level team athletics competition, with exciting promotion and relegation battles between national teams, that provides a truly exciting athletics event for both television and spectators alike.&rdquo;&nbsp;
European Olympic Committees President, Spyros&nbsp;Capralos, said: &ldquo;Since 2015, we have been working closely with European Athletics to make sure we have the best athletics competition as part of the European Games programme. Thanks to their great cooperation, we have now found an outstanding solution for 2023 with the Team Championships and we are confident that the athletics competition in Poland will be one of the most popular events during the Games.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Chair of European Games Coordination Commission, Hasan Arat, said: &ldquo;It is fantastic news for us to welcome&nbsp;athletics back into the European Games programme. Now we will have the very best track and field athletes in Europe competing, and this is not only great for the Games, but it will also be very much appreciated by the passionate athletics fans in Poland.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The Marshal of Silesia, Jakub Chełstowski, said: &ldquo;I am delighted and honoured to announce that the Region of Silesia will once again be hosting European Athletics at the Slaski Stadium, this time in the form of the athletics at the forthcoming European Games in 2023. We already had a very successful cooperation with European Athletics when we welcomed the European Athletics Team Championships Super League this year and I know that the Polish athletics fans are already looking forward to seeing top-class athletes in action in 2023.&rdquo;
Discussions will now commence with the Spanish athletics federation about their hosting the 2025 European Athletics Team Championships Super League after they had been provisionally awarded the 2023 event in May this year prior to the advanced discussions with the European Olympic Committees.

European Athletics Team Championships to join the European Games in 2023

An impressive eight victories saw Hungary win the European Athletics Team Championships Second League in Stara Zagora in Bulgaria, sealing promotion to the First League along with Denmark and Slovenia on Sunday (20).
The Hungarian team racked up 255 points in the overall standings after 40 events, thanks to winning all of the women&rsquo;s 100m and 400m races - both individually and in the relays - as well as the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s 800m.
Men&rsquo;s sprint success accounted for three of Denmark&rsquo;s six victories with Kojo Musah taking the first victory in the men's 100m in 10.21. Musah then ran the second leg of their 4x100m team that triumphed in 39.40 before Simon Hansen, who ran the first leg of their 4x100m team, triumphed individually the following day with victory in the 200m in a lifetime best of 20.92.
Katrine Koch Jacobsen&rsquo;s 68.38m national record topped the women&rsquo;s hammer standings and multiple European U23 champion Anna Emilie M&oslash;ller winning the steeplechase in 9:49.93 in her first competitive race since 2019.
Slovenia were promoted in spite of their five victories being one fewer than both fourth and fifth placed finishers Lithuania and Bulgaria. However, their consistency across track and field was key for the side that won the first and last events through European indoor pole vault silver medallist Tina &Scaron;utej and the men&rsquo;s 4x400m relay quartet which was anchored by former European U23 champion Luka Janezic.
Austria and Israel did not take part due to issues surrounding coronavirus and consequently were relegated down to the Third League, as were Russia, who are still banned from competing internationally.
Sprinter Justina Csoti was particularly impressive for Hungary as she set an 11.65 personal best to take maximum points shortly after compatriot Mate Koroknai&rsquo;s 50.00 run had given their country a first victory of the event in the men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles.
Csoti was later part of the quartet that won the women&rsquo;s 4x100m at the end of the first day in 44.38, two tenths ahead of Denmark and 1.2 seconds ahead of Slovenia, helping to cement the positions of the top three overnight. This is ultimately the way the standings stayed throughout the second day.
European U23 long jumper silver medallist Petra Farkas came in as the top-ranked athlete and she translated that form into results. However, second-best jumps were needed to separate her from Lithuania&rsquo;s Jogaile Petrokaite, as both athletes had a furthest mark of 6.43m. Farkas&rsquo; next longest effort of 6.40 was therefore crucial to securing Hungary&rsquo;s only field victory.
On the track, Bal&aacute;zs Vindics surged for home to leave Slovakia&rsquo;s Jan Vukovic with no reply with a time of 1:47.83, while the overall champions officially sealed their promotion by the time Evelin Nadhazy had helped her Hungarian 4x400m quartet cross the line first following her 52.85 one-lap win which was shared with Agnė &Scaron;erk&scaron;nienė as the pair ran the same time down to the thousandth of a second.
There was no need for Lithuania to share victory in the women&rsquo;s high jump though. The 2017 European indoor champion Airinė Pal&scaron;ytė settled into a great rhythm and managed to pull everything together to clear 1.93m at the final attempt, with home favourite Mirela Demireva coming away with a season&rsquo;s best of 1.91m and second place.
Pal&scaron;ytė&rsquo;s teammate and fellow national record-holder Edis Matusevičius lived up to his billing as the favourite in the men&rsquo;s javelin as he threw 83.00m in the final field event of the weekend.
Bulgarian fans in the Beroe Stadium particularly enjoyed the Olympic standard of 14.42m set by women&rsquo;s triple jump winner Gabriela Petrova, while Georgi Tsonov topped the men&rsquo;s equivalent with 16.35m.
Sixth-placed Slovakia&rsquo;s best performance came in the men&rsquo;s 400m with a personal best of 46.32 helping Simon Bujna just pip Luka Janezic on the line.
Latvia&rsquo;s only victory came through Mareks Arents in the men&rsquo;s pole vault. Having taken maximum points in Varazdin in 2019, the 34-year-old repeated the feat by equalling his 5.51m season&rsquo;s best, having been the last athlete to enter the competition at 5.10m.
Croatia won two events including discus success for European U23 champion Marija Tolj while Iceland finished ninth in the standings but with three wins. Dutch-based Hlynur Andresson set the ball rolling with a comfortable first-day 5000m win in 14:13.73. 
Baldvin Magnusson already had third in the 1500m to his name when he took to the 3000m start line on the second day and beat his rivals in a thrilling sprint finish to clock 8:01.56. European U20 bronze medallist Erna Soley Gunnarsdottir also won the shot put with 15.94m.
Full results are available <a href="https://stara-zagora21results.european-athletics.com/en/results/athletics/daily-schedule.htm">here.</a>

Eight victories inspire Hungary to Second League victory in Stara Zagora

Serbia missed out on promotion by the narrowest of margins two years ago but they made no mistake this time around at the European Athletics Team Championships Third League in Limassol, Cyprus this weekend.
After a crucial disqualification in the men&rsquo;s 4x400m knocked Serbia out of the sole promotion spot in 2019, the Serbian team convincingly topped the standings at this edition with 570 points. Hosts Cyprus also comfortably secured their passage into the Second League with 539 points while Moldova secured the third promotion spot ahead of Luxembourg - 481 to 465 points.
These three teams will be replaced in the Third League in two years&rsquo; time by Austria, Israel and Russia who were all automatically relegated by virtue of not competing at the Second League in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria.
Serbian athletes placed in the top two in no fewer than 25 of the 40 events across the weekend. Individual highlights included former European U20 champion Milica Gardasevic winning the long jump with 6.54m and Lazar Anic providing the first part of a Serbian double in the long jump with 7.83m to defeat former European indoor champion Izmir Smajlaj from Albania with 7.70m.
Multiple European age-group medallist Elzan Bibic from Serbia won the 1500m in 3:48.96 although he had to settle for second in the 3000m behind Malta&rsquo;s Jordan Gusman who set a national record of 7:53.70 ahead of Bibic&rsquo;s 7:55.51. Gusman&rsquo;s winning time in the 3000m was the fastest across all four divisions and he was less than three seconds shy of Richard Ringer&rsquo;s championship record of 7:50.99.
Hosts Cyprus amassed 14 victories across the weekend to secure an immediate return to the Second League in 2023. Their veteran sprinter Eleni Artymata won the individual 400m in 51.79 before anchoring the Cypriot team to victory in the 4x400m in a national record of 3:41.52.
Olivia Fotopoulou was another star performer across the two days. She won the 100m in 11.42 and the 200m in 23.31 and ran the first leg of their victorious 4x100m team which clocked 44.61.
Former European indoor 60m hurdles champion Milan Trajkovic improved his season&rsquo;s best to 13.82 to win the 110m hurdles and fellow world finalist Apostolos Parellis threw 59.27m in the discus to defeat arguable pre-competition favourite Danijel Furtula from Montenegro with 57.97m.
Moldova overhauled Luxembourg for the third and final promotion spot thanks in no small part to some excellent performances in the throwing events. World U20 discus champion Alexandra Emilianov came away with maximum points in both the shot put (16.50m) and discus (56.41m), Andrian Mardare won the men&rsquo;s javelin with 82.57m and the brother-sister combo of Serghei Marghiev and Zalina Petrivskaya took a double in the hammer with winning marks of 74.49m and 70.33m respectively.
Other individual highlights included Luxembourg&rsquo;s Bob Bertemes winning the shot put with 21.02m ahead of Serbia&rsquo;s former European indoor champion Asmir Kolasinac with 20.45m and Albania&rsquo;s Luiza Gega winning the 3000m steeplechase in a gun-to-tape 9:39.56.&nbsp;
Full Third League results can be found <a href="https://limassol21results.european-athletics.com/en/results/athletics/daily-schedule.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Serbia and hosts Cyprus dominate proceedings in the Third League in Limassol

After suffering the ignominy of relegation in 2019, the Czech Republic soared back into the Super League with victory at the European Athletics Team Championships First League in Cluj-Napoca, Romania on Sunday (20).
Courtesy of two victories across the final day and a consistent showing throughout including eleven top two finishes, the Czechs tallied 320.5 points to secure the First League title and their passage back into the top flight of this competition in 2023. They will be joined by Belarus who accrued 315 points while overnight leaders the Netherlands dropped back to third with 300 points.
At the other end of the league table, Estonia will get relegated into the third tier of the competition along with hosts Romania who drop out of the First League for the first time in competition history. Ireland will also drop down a tier by virtue of not competing due to coronavirus restrictions.
The Czechs finished with a flourish on the second day with two victories on the track to aid their promotion bid. Jan Jirka won the 200m in 20.82 ahead of former European champion Churandy Martina from the Netherlands in 21.03 and the Czech relay team which included three-time world and European indoor 400m champion Pavel Maslak concluded the programme with a come-from-behind victory ahead of the Netherlands in the 4x400m, winning in a European-leading time of 3:02.42 ahead of the Dutch with 3:02.49.
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The Belarusians just missed out on the overall title but they will also take their place in the Super League again in 2023. After lying in third overnight, the Belarusians rocketed up the leaderboard at the start of the second day with a succession of victories which each yielded 12 points.
After two European Team Championship records on the first day, European champion Elvira Herman provided the individual highlight on day two by winning the 100m hurdles in a championship record and lifetime best of 12.62 ahead of Belgium&rsquo;s Anne Zagre (12.87) with Zoe Sedney from the Netherlands third in a lifetime best of 12.94.
&ldquo;I am very happy that I beat my personal best,&rdquo; said Herman, who is also the reigning European U23 champion. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just excited and I want to run better and better if possible.&rdquo;
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Vitali Parakhonka provided the first part of a double in the sprint hurdles with victory in the 110m hurdles in a season&rsquo;s best of 13.50 and Maksim Niastsiarenka also won the triple jump with 16.65m. At the other end of the programme, the Belarusians all but ensured their route out of the second tier of this competition by winning the women&rsquo;s 4x400m in 3:28.14 from Switzerland (3:28.77) and the Czech Republic (3:30.51).
The Netherlands led by 14.5 points overnight but that lead began to evaporate over the course of the second day programme. After four victories on the first day, the Dutch could only manage one victory on the second day courtesy of Mike Foppen winning the 3000m in 7:57.43.
Switzerland climbed up to fourth in the overall standings with some outstanding performances on the second day. Another individual highlight on the second day was Salome Lang clearing three outdoor lifetime bests in the high jump which culminated with a third-time clearance at 1.96m, a national record and an Olympic qualifying standard.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s my best day. I&rsquo;m so happy, I&rsquo;m so relieved,&rdquo; said Lang. &ldquo;I had so much pressure on me for the Olympics and I&rsquo;m so happy.&rdquo;
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Romania&rsquo;s Daniela Stanciu finished second with 1.92m but despite a string of victories on the second day, the Romanians will drop down into the Second League for the first time in European Team Championships history in 2023.
Former world U18 and U20 champion Bianca Ghelber won the hammer at the start of the programme with 71.19m, Florentina Iusco won the long jump with 6.55m with the last jump of the competition and world fourth-placer Alin Alexandru Firfirica won the discus with 62.38m.
While Romania, Estonia and Ireland slide down into the Second League, they will be replaced in the First League in 2023 by Hungary, Denmark and Slovenia who occupied the three promotion places at the European Athletics Team Championships Second League in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria.
Full First League results can be found <a href="https://cluj-napoca21results.european-athletics.com/en/results/athletics/daily-schedule.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
Full Second League results can be found <a href="https://stara-zagora21results.european-athletics.com/en/results/athletics/daily-schedule.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
Full Third League results can be found <a href="https://limassol21results.european-athletics.com/en/results/athletics/daily-schedule.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Czech Republic and Belarus seal promotion into the Super League in Cluj-Napoca

Propelled by five track victories, the Netherlands are on course to return to the Super League in 2023 after the first day of competition at the European Athletics Team Championships First League in Cluj-Napoca, Romania on Saturday (19).
The Netherlands have accrued 175 points after 21 events and have a healthy cushion over the Czech Republic who occupy the second promotion spot with 160.5 points with Belarus (158 points) and Greece (154 points) still in the reckoning. At the other end of the spectrum, hosts Romania (94 points) and Estonia (79 points) occupy two of the relegation places along with Ireland who pulled out of the event.
The standout performance - and not just from a Dutch standpoint - was Femke Bol&rsquo;s victory in the 400m. Fresh from a 53.44 clocking in the 400m hurdles in the Rome Diamond League, Bol reverted back to the 400m flat in Cluj-Napoca and the 21-year-old strode to an unopposed victory in 50.37.
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Bol&rsquo;s time was not only another Dutch record and a European lead but she also displaced the championship record of 50.50 set by Great Britain&rsquo;s Perri Shakes-Drayton in the Super League eight years. Remarkably this was Bol&rsquo;s tenth national record of the season across all distances even at this relatively early juncture of the summer season!
One of Bol&rsquo;s training partners Jochem Dobber followed suit with victory in the men&rsquo;s 400m in 45.40 and national record-holder Irene Van Der Reijken won the 3000m steeplechase in 9:39.00 ahead of Romania&rsquo;s Elena Adelina Paneat in 9:41.68.
The Dutch team further embellished their promotion prospects on the first day by closing the programme with victories in both the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s 4x100m. Naomi Sedney anchored the women&rsquo;s team to victory in 43.38 ahead of a depleted Swiss team in 43.73 and veteran Churandy Martina held off a late charge from Turkey&rsquo;s Ramil Guliyev to win the men&rsquo;s 4x100m in 38.81 to 38.94.
Shortly after Bol&rsquo;s record-breaking performance in the 400m, fellow European indoor champion Miltiadis Tentoglou from Greece also eclipsed the European Team Championships record in the men&rsquo;s long jump.
Tentoglou began with 8.27m which would have handsomely sufficed for the victory but the world leader improved with his third effort, landing in the sandpit at 8.38m to add two centimetres to the previous record of 8.36m set by Russia&rsquo;s Aleksandr Menkov also at the 2013 edition in Gateshead.
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Given the calibre of the field, Tentoglou was surprisingly the only athlete to break the eight metre-line. Czech Republic&rsquo;s Radek Juska collected eleven points in second place with 7.95m with Sweden&rsquo;s Thobias Montler, who has twice won silver medals behind Tentoglou at the European Indoor Championships, third with 7.94m.
Another standout performance on the first day came from the in-form Finnish triple jumper Senni Salminen who set a European lead and national record of 14.63m in the fourth round to defeat former European U20 champion Violetta Skvartsova from Belarus by exactly half-a-metre.
After two failures at 4.60m, reigning European indoor champion Angelica Moser&rsquo;s gamble to pass to a season&rsquo;s best of 4.65m paid off as the Swiss claimed maximum points in the pole vault ahead of Greece&rsquo;s Eleni-Klaoudia Polak with 4.60m.
The second day of competition will be streamed live through the European Athletics website again.
Full day one results can be found <a href="https://cluj-napoca21results.european-athletics.com/en/results/athletics/daily-schedule.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
<a href="https://stara-zagora21results.european-athletics.com/en/results/athletics/daily-schedule.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Second League results</a>
<a href="https://limassol21results.european-athletics.com/en/results/athletics/daily-schedule.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Third League results</a>

Bol’s 400m championship record puts the Netherlands on the promotion path in Cluj-Napoca

The Serbian team missed out on the sole promotion spot at the 2019 European Athletics Team Championships Third League after a dramatic disqualification in the men&rsquo;s 4x400m but with the top three teams to gain promotion in Limassol this weekend, Serbia should secure a comfortable passage into the third tier of the biennial competition.
The European Athletics Team Championships Third League will be steamed live through the European Athletics Facebook page.
While reigning world indoor champion Ivana Spanovic won&rsquo;t be on team duties this weekend, former European U20 champion Milica Gardasevic should still deliver a full complement of points for Serbia in the women&rsquo;s long jump.&nbsp;
Other standout names on the Serbian team include Elzan Bibic in the men&rsquo;s 1500m, five-time Olympian Olivera Jevtic in the women&rsquo;s 5000m, Lazar Anic in the men&rsquo;s long jump, Dragana Tomasevic in the women&rsquo;s shot put and discus and former European indoor champion Asmir Kolasinac in the men&rsquo;s shot put.
The men&rsquo;s shot put is shaping up to be one of the highest quality events across the three divisions of the European Athletics Team Championships this weekend and Kolasinac is one of four throwers in the line-up with lifetime bests in excess of the 21 metre-line.
Kolasinac&rsquo;s lifetime best of 21.58m ranks him ahead of his Georgian rival Giorgi Mujaridze (21.21m) and Mesud Pezer from Bosnia and Herzegovina (21.48m) although Luxembourg&rsquo;s Bob Bertemes leads the way based on his season&rsquo;s best of 21.71m and his lifetime best of 22.22m.&nbsp;
Luxembourg were one of four nations to get relegated from the European Athletics Team Championships Second League two years ago along with Georgia, Malta and host nation Cyprus. Along with Serbia, Cyprus are arguably the strongest favourites for an immediate reprieve back into the Second League in 2023.
The star name on Cyprus&rsquo; team is their popular sprint hurdler Milan Trajkovic, the 2019 European indoor 60m hurdles champion and a world finalist outdoors in the 110m hurdles in Doha. However, Trajkovic has been struggling with injuries this year which has so far limited him to a modest season&rsquo;s best performance of 13.91.
Veteran sprinter Eleni Artymata, a world finalist in the 200m as far back as the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, will be representing the hosts in the 400m as well as the 4x100m and 4x400m while twins Olivia (100/200m) and Filippa Fotopoulou (long jump) are expected to accrue a healthy quote of points for Cyprus. Olivia and Filippa will join forces with Artymata in the 4x100m as well.
Another standout clash of the weekend pits home favourite and world finalist Apostolos Parellis in the discus against Danijel Furtula from Montenegro who leads the entry-list with a season&rsquo;s best of 65.50m to Parellis&rsquo; 61.90m. Montenegro has another strong favourite in the women&rsquo;s high jump with the Athens-based Marija Vukovic expected to secure maximum points.
Moldova has featured in the Second League in editions gone by and their team&rsquo;s strength is heavily weighted to the men's and women's throwing events. Their team includes the in-form javelin thrower Andrian Mardare, who finished second to Johannes Vetter at the European Throwing Cup, world U20 discus champion Alexandra Emilianov who has been entered for both the shot put and discus and the sister-brother duo of Zalina Petrivskaya and Serghei Marghiev in the hammer.
And while it would be a mild surprise if Albania claimed one of the three promotion places, their standard bearer for so many years Luiza Gega is fully expected to dominate the 3000m steeplechase and 5000m in Limassol.
Gega, who holds all the Albanian records from 800m to the marathon, won both events in the Third League in Skopje two years ago and her winning times of 9:25.80 and 15:36.62 were the fastest times recorded across all four divisions.
Likewise, former European indoor champion Izmir Smajlaj is also expected to bring home maximum points for Albania in the long jump.

Serbia and hosts Cyprus primed for promotion in Limassol

Five-time European medallist Ivet Lalova-Collio will hope to lead the Bulgarian promotion charge on home soil at the European Athletics Team Championships Second League in Stara Zagora this weekend which will be streamed live on the European Athletics YouTube channel.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Including the European Cup which ran until 2008, Lalova-Collio is the most successful athlete in the competition's history across all divisions, racking up a remarkable sixteen victories stretching back to 2004. On that day in Plovdiv, Lalova-Collio set her 100m personal best of 10.77 aged just 20 to go equal second on the European all-time list before winning the 200m the following day in 22.58.&nbsp;
Now 37, Lalova-Collio will only contest the 200m individually in Stara Zagora and the world and European finalist will be looking to draw on all of her experience on the same track where she won a sprint double six years ago. Her biggest rival is likely to be European indoor 60m finalist Maja Mihalinec Zidar from Slovenia who will be looking to emulate Lalova-Collio in 2015 by completing the sprint double in Stara Zagora.
European discus champion Andrius Gudžius from Lithuania, who has thrown 68.62m this year, is another standout name to be competing at the Beroe Stadium as nine countries will be aiming to climb up to the First League by finishing in the top three in the overall standings.&nbsp;
By contrast, none of the participating nations this weekend will drop down into the Third League. Austria withdrew from the event citing coronavirus concerns and Israel also dropped out after one of their team members tested positive for coronavirus. As a consequence both teams will get automatically relegated from the Second League along with Russia who are still banned from competing internationally.&nbsp;
But despite a slightly depleted field, the men&rsquo;s discus will be one of the highlights of the weekend. European U23 champion Kristjan Čeh is ahead of Gudzius and second on this year&rsquo;s world list, with the Slovenian having broken his own European U23 record with a 69.52m effort last month. Iceland&rsquo;s Gu&eth;ni Valur Gudnason and Hungary&rsquo;s J&aacute;nos Husz&aacute;k have also surpassed the 65 metre-line this season, making it one of the highest quality events across the programme.
Joining Lalova-Collio as a local favourite is Olympic and European silver medallist Mirela Demireva. The women's high jump could be close, with the top five athletes separated by just five centimetres based on season&rsquo;s bests. Lithuania&rsquo;s former European indoor champion Airine Palsyte heads this list having cleared 1.90m this year compared to 1.88m for Demireva.&nbsp;
Croatia&rsquo;s 2014 European medallist Ana Simic, 13-time Hungarian champion Barbara Szabo, and Slovenian youngster Lia Apostolovski - who jumped 1.92m last summer - are also contenders for a full complement of points in Stara Zagora.&nbsp;
World University Games high jump winner Tihomir Ivanov is another perennially strong Bulgarian who triumphed in the First League in Vaasa, Finland in 2017. Three athletes managed the same feat in Sandnes in 2019 before their nations were ultimately relegated: Lithuanians Dovile Kilty (triple jump), Edis Matusevicius (javelin) and Slovakia&rsquo;s Martina Hrasnova (hammer throw).&nbsp;&nbsp;
Denmark's Olympic silver medallist Sara Slott Petersen will also hope to secure maximum points in the 400m hurdles. The 2016 European champion faces - among others - 2017 Second League winner Agata Zupin of Slovenia as well as Hungary's Janka Molnar, who has improved to 56.17 in 2021.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, Slott Petersen and her compatriot Anna Emilie M&oslash;ller make up a returning group of 12 who won when the third tier of this competition was held in Varaždin, Croatia in 2019. On her return to racing after injury, the latter lines up in the 3000m steeplechase, an event in which she has won two European U23 titles and holds the European U23 record with 9:13.46.
Another European U23 gold medallist involved is 21-year-old discus thrower Maria Tolj, the only athlete on the entry list who has thrown over 60 metres this year. The Croatian set a 63.39m lifetime best at the European Throwing Cup in Split in March and should successfully deputise for Sandra Perkovic who won two years ago with a championship record of 68.58m.
In the same month, Tina &Scaron;utej ended her long wait for a European pole vault medal by winning silver indoors in Torun. Slovenian hopes will also rest on the likes of Luka Janezic (400m), Žan Rudolf (800m) and training partners Klara Lukan and Marusa Mismas-Zrimsek in the 3000m and 5000m respectively.&nbsp;
From a Latvian perspective, Madara Palameika is the only female javelin thrower over 60 metres, while Elvis Misāns and Mareks Ārents stand good chances of repeating their triple jump and pole vault wins from two years ago.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Līga Velvere and Laura Igaune would say the same. The former is marginally behind the 2:01.34 new lifetime best of Hungary&rsquo;s Bianka Bartha-K&eacute;ri this year in the 800m. Iguane&rsquo;s 70.64m season&rsquo;s best hammer throw is 26 centimetres better than the aforementioned Hrasnova.&nbsp;

Lalova-Collio and Demireva to spearhead Bulgaria’s promotion prospects in Stara Zagora

Five recently crowned European indoor champions from Torun will be on team duties at the European Athletics Team Championships First League in Cluj-Napoca, Romania which will be held in the recently refurbished Cluj Arena on 19-20 June and streamed live through the European Athletics website.
And all five athletes are representing countries with credible chances of securing one of the two available promotion places back into the European Athletics Team Championships Super League in 2023.
The Swiss team includes Ajla Del Ponte and Angelica Moser who triumphed in the 60m and pole vault respectively in Torun and the gold medal-winning duo will helm Switzerland&rsquo;s prospects of reaching the Super League for only the second time since the formation of the competition in 2009.
After winning European titles at U20 and U23 level, Moser embellished her credentials as a big time performer by landing her first senior title in the pole vault in Torun where she cleared lifetime bests of 4.70m and 4.75m. Her clash with Sweden&rsquo;s Angelica Bengtsson could be one of the highlights of the weekend.
Del Ponte capped her indoor season with a sparkling 60m victory at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in a world leading 7.03. However, the early weeks of her summer campaign were waylaid by a positive coronavirus test which forced her to miss the World Athletics Relays in Silesia.
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But the 24-year-old is building up form again with a 11.18 season&rsquo;s best over 100m in Geneva last weekend and she formed part of a Swiss team that blazed to a world lead of 42.42 in the 4x100m. That same team will be in action this weekend and they could feasibly challenge the championship record of 42.47 set by Germany in the Super League in 2017.
Along with Del Ponte, two of the Kambundji sisters will be in contention for maximum points. Mujinga won the 100m in Geneva in 11.08 but she will be contesting the 200m this weekend, the distance at which she won a bronze medal at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, along with the 4x100m.
Her younger sister Ditaji will be making her senior outdoor debut for Switzerland in the 100m hurdles. The 19-year-old has broken the 13 second-barrier twice this season and her recent Swiss U20 record of 12.94 puts her third on the European U20 all-time list.
Among others, Kambundji will face European senior champion Elvira Herman from Belarus - the holder of the European U20 record with 12.85 - and fellow newcomer Zoe Sedney from the Netherlands who reached the European indoor 60m hurdles final in Torun aged 19.&nbsp;
Like Kambundji, Sedney comes from a renowned sporting family and her older sister Naomi will be representing the Netherlands, who last competed in the Super League in 2017, in both the 100m and 4x100m.&nbsp;
The standout name on the Dutch team is European indoor champion Femke Bol who reverts back to the 400m flat this weekend. Bol has already set a staggering nine Dutch records across all distances - relays included - this season including the 400m indoors (50.64) and outdoor (50.56) and the championship record of 50.50 set by Perri Shakes-Drayton in 2013 could be displaced this weekend.
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Bol&rsquo;s training partner Lieke Klaver slots into the Dutch team in the 200m and Menno Vloon, who raised the Dutch pole vault record to 5.96m during the indoor season, is another strong candidate for maximum points this weekend.
The Czech Republic fell a meagre 5.5 points shy of remaining in the Super League two years ago but the Czechs are strong candidates for an immediate reprieve into the top tier of the competition.&nbsp;
The Czech team is laden with star names on both the track and in the field, including recently crowned European indoor champion Tomas Stanek in the shot put. Vitezslav Vesely and Nikola Ogrodnikova could provide a Czech double in the javelin and former European indoor champions Pavel Maslak and Jakub Holusa have been named in the 400m and 1500m respectively.
Greece finished 10th in the Super League in 2019 to slip back down into the second tier of the competition but most of their top names will be competing in Cluj-Napoca including Miltiadis Tentoglou. Tentoglou has dominated on the European stage since the 2018 European Athletics Championships and he now sits atop the world list with a recent lifetime best of 8.60m to move to third on the European all-time list.
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The long jump is shaping up to be a rematch of the high quality European indoor final in Toruń where Tentoglou successfully defended his title. His closest challengers are likely to be Sweden&rsquo;s Thobias Montler and Finland&rsquo;s Kristian Pulli, the silver and bronze medallists behind Tentoglou in Torun.
Sweden and Finland will also be looking to reestablish their positions in the Super League in 2023 along with Turkey whose team includes Jak Ali Harvey in the 100m and 200m with European 200m champion Ramil Guliyev recruited for relay duties this weekend.
Hosts Romania finished as high as second in the Super League on the women&rsquo;s side in the late 1990s at the European Cup - the predecessor of the European Athletics Team Championships - thanks in no small part to the exploits of the likes of Gabriela Szabo and Ionela Tirlea.
More than 20 years later, the Romanians are unlikely to challenge for promotion but the likes of Bianca Ghelber (hammer), Florentina Iusco (triple jump) and Alin Alexandru Firfirica (discus) are all expected to challenge for maximum points in their respective events which should guarantee Romania&rsquo;s place in the second flight of the competition in 2023.
Ireland&rsquo;s withdrawal from the competition means they will get automatically relegated into the Second League in 2023 along with the two lowest ranked teams at the conclusion of the weekend.&nbsp;

The race for promotion is on at the First League in Cluj-Napoca

Results

European Athletics Team Championships (all leagues)

he European Athletics Team Championships is a biennial event and the world's premier international competition between nations.

European Athletics Team Championships

How Poland won the team title | Silesia 2021

Vetter throws an incredible 96.29m | Silesia 2021

Hussong smashes javelin championship record | Silesia 2021

Skrzyszowska's sprint double | Silesia 2021

Poland dominates women's 4x400m | Silesia 2021

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European Athletics Team Championships (all leagues)

European Athletics Team Championships (all leagues)

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The race for promotion is on at the First League in Cluj-Napoca

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