Nicely, hey sports activities followers! Greetings from Wisconsin. As Stuart Weir covers the 2026 European Athletics Outside Championships on-site from Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, England, yours actually is within the #Larrenhalle in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, in our farmhouse, inbuilt 1905 and moved to Fort Atkinson in 1948. It’s early within the morning; I start watching the EAC at 4:30 AM most days (tomorrow it’s 1:30 AM). It’s quiet till about six am in Fort Atkinson, as a neighbor begins slicing their grass or doing yard work, having fun with the day’s quiet and coolness. Most mornings, our Bengal cats, Smokey and Bandit, are visiting me, asking for breakfast. This morning, nonetheless, they’re quick asleep, cuddled on our mattress with Kathy as she finishes a correct evening of sleep.
Listed here are my observations about day 3 of the European Champs:
Incredible protection of the European Champs, significantly better than most of what we see within the U.S. I imagine that the massive motive, properly, one of many massive the explanation why observe and area just isn’t on the stage it needs to be within the US is as a result of mediocre presentation of our sport. EAC protection, by Hannah England, Adam Setleff, Tim Hutchings and Phil Minshull, is great. Considerate, knowledgeable, relaxed, and with each opinions and knowledgeable authority, the EAC staff, together with the sensible drone pictures and filming, is a key motive why EAC viewing in North America is rising by Leaps and bounds.
Ladies’s Hammer Gold for Finland! A lot of doing properly in a championship is delivering a powerful efficiency on the suitable day on the proper time. Silja Kosonen, FIN, is a good instance of the aforementioned notion. Silja delivered a wonderful 76.28-meter hammer throw, taking the gold. Sara Fantini, ITA, added a silver medal to Crew Italy along with her 74.35-meter throw. Beatrice Nedberge Llano, NOR, took the bronze in 72.88 meters. And WR holder Anita Wlodarczyk, four-time European Champion, who competed in Birmingham 2026 as her seventh European champs, simply missed bronze, throwing 72.37 meters, ending in fourth. Anita deserves the respect of your entire area, as she has championed the ladies’s hammer throw for a few years. Nicola Tuthill, IRE, was fifth, and Charlotte Payne, GB, was sixth.
The lads’s 400 meters was thrilling as a neighborhood man delivered! You’ll be able to go house if you’re Matthew Hudson-Smith. Hudson-Smith ran the race from lane 9, as he had let up within the semi-finals. Previous to Birmingham, Matthew Hudson-Smith had an Olympic silver medal from Paris 2024 and two golds on the European Championships. Working 44.17, Matthew Hudson-Smith got here off the ultimate flip within the lead and held on! Muhammed Abdallah Kounta, FRA, took silver in 44.40 and Jonas Phijffers, NED, in 44.41 for the bronze. Something can occur within the 400 meters, one of many sport’s most tough disciplines, and MHS delivered on the suitable day and on the proper time! In entrance of his house crowd and on a observe he ran on as a baby.
Emma Zapletalova wins gold for Slovakia at 400m hurdles! Emma Zapletalova, SVK, has had an excellent 2026, breaking 400m hurdles NR twice (ninth time, taking NR from 56.19 to 52.58 over six years!) and one time over 400m flat, her seventh NR at 400m, now at 50.59! Within the European ultimate, Emma took the lead and ran a powerful 400m hurdles, profitable in 52.91. Emily Newnham, GB, took the silver in 53.33 and Fatoumate Binta Diallo, POR, was bronze in 53.55. The 400m hurdles are essentially the most difficult occasion in our sport, with the pace of the 400 m flat and ten hurdles. It’s an occasion developed by a sadist, and athletes who embrace the ache and may keep in mind to focus do properly! Congrats, Emma!
Males’s 110m hurdles. All the time a crowd favourite, the 110m hurdles is such a technical occasion. Off a tiny bit and the half is over. Jason Joseph, the Swiss star, went to a different stage, taking management by the 4th hurdle and operating away, and took gold in 13.12. Simply Kwaou-Mathey, FRA, took the silver in 13.16. Kwaou-Mathey had run so properly within the prelims and semi-final; many thought he may have gained the race. Jakub Szymanski, POL, was bronze in 13.26. It was a bodily race; Joseph jogs my memory of Roger Kingdom, who would barrel by hurdles. Jason Joseph needs to be the following European beneath 13 seconds for the 110m hurdles.
