2028 European Championships in Silesia to feature record prize fund
European Athletics has announced that the 2028 European Championships in Silesia, Poland, will offer a record prize fund worth about £3m, with payments awarded to athletes finishing in the top eight across all 50 events.
Prize money for 2028 has been set so that gold medallists will receive 30,000 euros (£25,720), silver medallists 15,000 euros (£12,860) and bronze medallists 10,000 euros (£8,573). Athletes finishing fourth to eighth will receive 5,000, 4,000, 3,000, 2,000 and 1,000 euros respectively, and European Athletics says the revised structure ensures every discipline is treated equally and that those placing in the top eight will receive financial recognition.
The approach marks a change from the payout used at the last championships in Birmingham in August, where a total pot of 500,000 euros (£428,000) was split equally between the top 10 performances across 10 categories - five for men and five for women - determined by the World Athletics scoring tables.
Great Britain and Northern Ireland won 19 medals in Birmingham, including nine golds, but none of those gold medal performances earned one of the 50,000 euro 'Gold Crown' bonuses awarded by the organisers; Georgia Hunter Bell won 1500m gold at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham earlier this year.
World Athletics has also been increasing prize money at global events: it described its three-day Ultimate Championship in Budapest as "the richest prize pot in the history of the sport", with $10m (£7.4m) on offer, and each individual event winner received $150,000 (£110,000). Amy Hunt made history by becoming the first athlete to win four gold medals at one championships.
European Athletics noted the crowded elite calendar when outlining the new prize structure, saying: "With athletes carefully planning their seasons, championships may need to offer substantial incentives to ensure strong fields." There will be another Ultimate Championship in 2028, plus the Los Angeles Olympics and a Diamond League season.
The governing body said the revised structure guarantees "due recognition" not only for medal winners but for all athletes reaching the top eight, and its chief executive, Christian Milz, said the decision "demonstrates our commitment" to competitors who are "at the heart of our sport". "We are seeing European athletes produce extraordinary performances and capture the imagination of audiences around the world," he said. "It is important that we continue to find meaningful ways to recognise and support them, and this record prize fund is a significant step in that direction."
The European Championships will take place in early June, starting six weeks before the Olympics get under way.