Birmingham 2026 Celebrates Record European Athletics Championships
- 14 hours ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
Birmingham 2026 sets new records with 1,645 athletes, 50 events and 157 medals
Two world records, four European records, 11 Championship records and 40 national records set
First international Championships delivered by Athletic Ventures as the UK's bid, led by Athletic Ventures, to bring the World Athletics Championships back to London in 2029, enters its final weeks
BBC television coverage reached 17.2 million people across TV and iPlayer, with a peak audience of 4.2 million on the final night for the men's 4 x 400m final
Audiences spent a total of 63 million hours watching coverage on the BBC
European Athletics President thanks Birmingham 2026 stating: “our sport is bigger and better today because of you”
First European Athletics Championships where the ‘funder of last resort’ was a company and not a government
Athletic Ventures, the joint venture between UK Athletics, London Marathon Events, and The Great Run Company, is celebrating delivering a record-breaking European Athletics Championships in Birmingham - the first time the European Athletics Championships had been held in the UK and the first international Championships to be organised by Athletic Ventures.
Birmingham 2026 was the result of Athletic Ventures bringing together the expertise of its three founding organisations to deliver a multi-day international Championships, building on the huge growth and success of the annual London Athletics Meet, the world’s largest one-day athletics meeting.
The unique operating model, under which the full financial risk for the Championships sat with the Local Organising Committee (Athletic Ventures), broke with the traditional model whereby major events are underwritten by government or the host city. This ensured that through exceptional planning, cost control and ticketing revenue, there were no further calls on public money. Any surplus generated from the Championships will be used by Athletic Ventures to develop the sport and inspire participation in athletics across the UK.
European Athletics President, Dobromir Karamarinov, described Birmingham 2026 as a “truly historic European Athletics Championships” and praised the Local Organising Committee for delivering “seven memorable days of athletics”.
He added: “Your hard work, expertise and innovation have touched and inspired millions of people across Europe and our sport is bigger and better today because of you.”
The first European Athletics Championships to be held in the UK delivered:
Biggest ever with 1,645 participating athletes, 50 events and 157 medals
Total of 218,135 spectators, with three successive sold-out evening sessions
Adult ticket prices started from £10 and children from £5 with a family-of-four offer for £33
Two world records, four European records, 11 Championship records and 40 national records set
Great Britain and Northern Ireland matched best-ever gold medal haul with nine golds and 19 medals overall to finish second in the medal table
BBC Sport's coverage of the European Athletics Championships had a total reach of 17.2 million people across TV and iPlayer last week, with 8.1 million iPlayer requests, on-site clip requests of 5.2m and 46m social video plays
Across the Championships, audiences spent a total of 63 million hours watching coverage on the BBC, with the highest five-minute peak audience reaching 4.2 million for the men’s 4 x 400m final
Birmingham 2026's digital channels generated more than 132 million impressions and 6.2 million engagements during event week
More than 10,000 people accredited across athletes, teams, officials, workforce, media, broadcasters, partners and other groups
The impact extended across Birmingham. Around 20 per cent of those attending the Championships were children, thousands of tickets were distributed through schools and community programmes, and more than 5,000 people entered the Unity Challenge 1K and 5K. A further 39,000 people visited Champions Square in the centre of the city across its four-day programme of sport, culture and entertainment.
More than 150 schools were involved with ‘Beyond’, the Birmingham 2026 social impact initiative, which offered visits from Olympians, the Birmingham Miles Challenge and free events at the stadium including The Daily Mile, Athletics for All, and a free accessible sports festival with support from Street Games and Access Sport. Additionally, free resources for primary and secondary schools were distributed across the West Midlands.
The first UK staging of a European Athletics Championships comes at a significant moment for British athletics, as the UK's bid, led by Athletic Ventures, to bring the World Athletics Championships back to London in 2029, enters its final weeks.
The bid brings together Athletic Ventures, UK Sport, DCMS and the Mayor of London, and would see the world's biggest athletics event return to the London Stadium for the first time since the hugely successful 2017 World Athletics and World Para Athletics Championships.
Together with the record-breaking London Athletics Meet earlier this summer, Birmingham 2026 provides further momentum behind the ambition to bring the world's greatest athletes back to London in 2029 – and further evidence of the audiences, expertise, venues and major-event infrastructure available to deliver another outstanding global Championships.
The scale and reach of the BBC audiences is particularly significant as the broadcaster will also hold the UK rights to the 2029 World Athletics Championships.
Jack Buckner, CEO of UK Athletics and co-founder of Athletic Ventures, said: “The UK’s first European Championships in Birmingham has truly raised the bar for the event, setting new records with the biggest event in the Championships’ history, outstanding performances, a sell-out weekend, huge TV audiences and massive fan engagement on social and digital channels. We would like to thank European Athletics and our partners and stakeholders at UK Sport, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Birmingham City Council and West Midlands Combined Authority for all their support in staging this record-breaking Championships. We’d also like to salute and thank the 1,438 volunteers who played such an important part in creating a wonderful experience for athletes and spectators.”
Paul Foster, CEO of the Great Run Company and co-founder of Athletic Ventures, said: “We’ve shown the power of a major event to inspire activity with the success of the mass participation Unity Challenge event and our schools and community engagement programmes around Birmingham 2026. Mega events can transform lives and Athletic Ventures is committed to creating legacies that reach far beyond the stadium.”
Hugh Brasher, CEO of London Marathon Events and co-founder of Athletic Ventures, said: “Birmingham 2026 was the first Championships delivered by Athletic Ventures and the combined expertise of UK Athletics, London Marathon Events and the Great Run Company has demonstrated how Athletic Ventures’ innovative operating model takes the sport to new levels. This is a new way of delivering mega events and the huge success of Birmingham 2026 demonstrates what Athletic Ventures can do at international Championships level.”
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