Youth championships to be staged every 2 years from 2016

The European Athletics Youth Championships will be staged every two years from 2016, following a Congress decision to add the event to the European Athletics competition programme.

The Skopje 2013 Congress decision in April is in line with European Athletics' Youth Strategy to create an event for the under-18 age group.

The championships are earmarked for the beginning of July over four days. The programme of events will be the same as the World Youth Championships with a possibility of adding pole vault to the octathlon.

A maximum of two athletes per event per country will be allowed to participate.

Georgia, Italy and Slovakia are currently bidding to host the inaugural 2016 championships.

The hosts are set to be chosen at the European Athletics Council meeting in May 2014.