Reigning world champions Kevin Mayer and Pierre-Ambroise Bosse will be looking to capture their first senior continental outdoor titles at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships from 7-12 August.
France won three gold medals at the IAAF World Championships in London last year but reigning three-time European 50km race walk champion and world record-holder Yohann Diniz has been forced to withdraw from the 83-strong French team due to a stress fracture.
Mayer will be looking for his fourth major title in as many championships. After winning silver in the Olympics, the Frenchman has taken the world and European indoor heptathlon titles as well as the world decathlon title in London last year.
Mayer hasn’t contested a decathlon so far this season but he has set lifetime bests in five individual events in the build-up to Berlin and could even be in the shape to challenge Daley Thompson’s long-standing championship record of 8811 points.
After a frustrating start to the summer campaign, world 800m champion Bosse is rounding into form at the right time. He improved to 1:44.20 in the Monaco Diamond League on Friday and is ranked second on the 2018 European lists behind Spain’s Saul Ordonez (1:43.65).
Neither Bosse or Mayer have won a European outdoor senior title although they were both gold medallists in their respective events at the 2011 European U20 Championships and have come through the ranks together.
France won two gold medals at the 2016 European Championships in Amsterdam. Dimitri Bascou will not be defending his title in the 110m hurdles due to injury but Mahiedine Mekhissi will be challenging for his fourth title in the 3000m steeplechase. He has also entered the 5000m.
Renaud Lavillenie will also be looking for his fourth outdoor title in the pole vault. The world record-holder won three successive titles between 2010 and 2014 but his reign came to a dramatic end in Amsterdam when he no-heighted in the final.
Joint European record-holder Jimmy Vicaut will be looking to land an elusive outdoor title in the 100m. He co-leads the 2018 European lists with 9.91 alongside Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes.
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 multisport 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.