A guide to Athletics at Berlin 2018

A look at what to expect when the Athletics competition begins in Berlin as part of the 2018 European Championships.

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The 24th edition of Europe’s biennial outdoor athletics championships takes place in Berlin from 6-12 August as part of the 2018 European Championships.

It is the only sport in the Championships not taking place in Scotland.

Athletes will compete in 48 medal events, 24 men’s and 24 women’s, with 42 taking place at the 55,000 capacity Berlin Olympic Stadium and six in a temporary arena for 3,000 fans at Breitscheidplatz Square in the city centre, called the European Mile.

Those being held at the stadium include all 24 track events - sprints, middle and long distance races, hurdles and relays - as well as 16 field events and two multi-event competitions - decathlon for men and heptathlon for women.

Breitscheidplatz Square will host the start and finish of the men’s and women’s marathons as well as the men’s and women’s 20km and 50km race walks.

It will also be the site for all 48 medal ceremonies, and also the men’s shot put qualification round on Monday 6 August. Monday is the first day of competition.

The addition of the women’s 50km race walk to this year's championships means there is an equal gender split in terms of events for the first time since the European athletics competition was first held in 1934 in Turin, Italy.

The championships were held every four years until 2010. Since then they have been staged every two years.

The men’s 100m is the shortest event on the programme, with the final likely to be won in around 10 seconds, while the longest is the women’s 50km race walk, which will take around four and a quarter hours to complete.

The Berlin Olympic Stadium was built to host the 1936 Olympic Games, at which US athlete Jesse Owens famously won four gold medals.

The venue also staged the IAAF World Championships in 2009, when Jamaica’s Usain Bolt emerged as the outstanding athlete, winning three golds on the stadium's blue track and setting world records in the men’s 100m and 200m which still stand today.

Some of the names to look out for in Berlin are Croatia’s Sandra Perkovic, who is going for her fifth consecutive discus title, Germany’s trio of javelin hopes, Thomas Rohler, Johannes Vetter and Andreas Hofmann, and Norway’s Ingebrigtsen brothers, who are seeking to sweep the medal podium in the men’s 1500m.