Hosts Germany will be sending a full strength team of 128 athletes to the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships from 7-12 August.
Germany won five gold medals at the 2016 European Championships in Amsterdam two years ago and their team includes all five reigning champions: David Storl (shot put), Christina Schwanitz (shot put), Max Hess (triple jump), Cindy Roleder (100m hurdles) and Gesa Felicitas Krause (3000m steeplechase).
Storl will be looking to win his fourth successive European outdoor title in the shot put while Schwanitz is aiming for her third in a row. Schwanitz missed the 2017 season on maternity leave but the 32-year-old returned to 20m-plus form at the German Championships last weekend and leads the European outdoor lists by nearly one metre with her winning effort of 20.06m.
There will be high hopes for medals in the men’s javelin in which the hosts could secure a clean sweep. World champion Johannes Vetter (92.70m), recently crowned German champion Andreas Hofmann (92.06m) and Thomas Rohler (91.78m) lead the 2018 world lists although Estonia’s Magnus Kirt (89.75m) and Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch (89.02m) will be looking to challenge the German triumvirate.
Olympic champion Christoph Harting secured his place on the team with victory at the German Championships. He will be joined by Olympic bronze medallist Daniel Jasinski and older brother Robert - who famously won the world title in the same stadium in 2009 - in his farewell to major championships competition.
World bronze medallist Pamela Dutkiewicz will be looking for another medal in the 100m hurdles while the previously announced world heptathlon silver medallist Carolin Schafer and world decathlon bronze medallist Kai Kazmirek are the top names in the multi-events.
Click here for the full team.
More information on the 2018 European Championships:
- The Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships will be part of the first multi-sport European Championships along with co-hosts Glasgow.
- It will be a must-watch, must-attend experience that elevates the status of European Champions, uniting existing European Championships to celebrate the highest honour in European sport and celebrating the defining moments that create Champions.
- It is the continent’s ultimate multi-sport event, an 11-day celebration of European sport staged every four years.
- Seven of Europe’s leading sports (athletics, aquatics, rowing, golf, cycling, gymnastics, triathlon) will be brought together for the first edition.
- The European Athletics Championships in Berlin will be staged 7-12 August. The six other sports will be staged in Glasgow through 2-12 August.
- 4500 athletes and 52 nations will compete across the seven sports.
- Potential TV audience of over one billion with millions more across multiple digital platforms.
- Over half a million spectators expected.