Great Britain & NI sending biggest-ever athletics team to European Championships Munich 2022
Great Britain & NI will be sending their biggest-ever athletics team to the European Championships Munich 2022, Dina Asher-Smith, Jake Wightman and Keely Hodgkinson leading the charge.
UK Athletics has confirmed 115 athletes have been selected to represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Championships, which will take place between 11-21 August in Munich, Germany, surpassing the previous record of 97 from Berlin 2018.
For the second edition in 2022, the innovative competition brings together the existing championships of the continent’s leading sports into one multi-sport event to create a must-watch, must-attend experience that elevates the Champions of Europe.
Wightman, the newly-crowned world champion in Oregon, is selected to race in the men’s 800m alongside Ben Pattison and Daniel Rowden in the historic German city.
And further world medallists Asher-Smith, Hodgkinson, Matthew Hudson-Smith and Laura Muir will also line up for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team.
Asher-Smith will look to defend her European 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay titles in Munich following her 200m world bronze in Eugene at the recent World Championships.
And Hodgkinson, who won world silver in Eugene, will race in her first senior European outdoor Championships after winning European medals in the U18 and U20 age groups.
Hudson-Smith and Muir, both world bronze medallists at Oregon 2022, return to the European stage as defending champions in the men’s 400m and women’s 1500m respectively.
Owing to the congested nature of the summer season with three senior Championships back-to-back, some athletes who had qualified by entry standard did not wish to be considered for European selection including Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Josh Kerr, Tade Ojora, and Joshua Zeller.
Christian Malcolm, Olympic head coach, said: “After a very successful World Athletics Championships for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team where we finished as the top European country in the placings table, we are really pleased to be taking such a strong team to Munich and giving a number of athletes a key development opportunity on the major stage.”
“Several world medallists and finalists have been selected, while many others have stepped up this summer and are earning their first GB & NI vest on the European stage. This is one of the largest squads we have ever taken to a European Championships, and we are really looking forward to taking on the best on the continent ….”
The European Championships builds the prestige and profile of the individual championships by uniting them in one multi-sport event every four years.
The event inspires the next generation of young athletes through the power of sport – leaving a lasting legacy for future generations.