Birmingham 2026: European Athletics Championships opening-day preview
Amy Hunt, Dina Asher-Smith, Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Marcel Jacobs are among the headline names on the opening day of the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham on 10 August 2026, where a full programme of track and field events is scheduled from early morning marathons through to an evening session of finals.
The day’s timetable features a mix of sprint, middle-distance, hurdles, relays and field events. Amy Hunt is the warm favourite for the women’s 100m at 9.50pm while Dina Asher-Smith enters as the defending champion and is the British athlete with the most European golds. Jakob Ingebrigtsen returns from an achilles injury to run the men’s 5,000m at 8.40pm, Keely Hodgkinson begins the defence of her women’s 800m title at 12.05pm, and the mixed 4x400m relay final is set for 9.40pm.
The men’s 100m is billed as the night’s major event, with Marcel Jacobs the favourite to defend his crown at 9.45pm and Britain’s Romell Glave named as his closest challenger. The women’s 110m hurdles is scheduled for 9.30pm and is expected to produce a competitive race. Hunt is also the favourite for the women’s 200m in the evening session, listed at 9.50pm.
Keely Hodgkinson appears twice on the schedule, expected to contest the women’s 800m semi-finals at 12.10pm before the women’s 800m final at 9.45pm. Swiss athlete Audrey Werro is noted for having run the third fastest time in history in June to beat Hodgkinson in Stockholm, and former 400m hurdles world champion Femke Broeders-Bol is mentioned as a live threat in the same event.
British 400m specialist Matt Hudson-Smith is expected to contend for a third men’s 400m gold at 8.50pm. Emily Newnham is projected to medal in the women’s 400m hurdles at 9.08pm, while Slovakia’s Emma Zapletalova is described as the wide-margin favourite in that race. Elise Thorner is cited as a likely gold medallist in the women’s steeplechase at 8.30pm after a breakout season.
Nafi Thiam’s withdrawal with injury means the heptathlon will produce a new champion for the first time since 2016, and Katarina Johnson-Thompson is named as an athlete who will hope to take advantage at 7.45pm. Britain are listed with medal chances across relay events: the men’s and women’s 4x100m at 9.33 and 9.48pm, the women’s and men’s 4x400m at 9.33pm and 9.48pm, and the mixed 4x100m at 8.35pm. Jake Wightman is included in a strong men’s 1500m at 9.07pm, Amber Anning is expected to medal in the women’s 400m at 8.10pm, Georgia Hunter Bell is favourite in the women’s 1500m at 9.13pm, the women’s and men’s marathons start at 7:30am and 8:10am, and Mondo Duplantis is scheduled in the men’s pole vault at 7.30pm.
The evening session concludes with several headline finals, including the mixed 4x400m relay at 9.40pm and both the women’s 800m final and the men’s 100m at 9.45pm, framing the closing sequence of day one’s programme.