European Championship to be staged at Gateshead

The Tyneside venue was awarded the flagship event by the European Athletics Council meeting in Frankfurt yesterday ahead of rival bids from Braunschweig (Germany), Bydgoszcz (Poland) and Ostrava (Czech Republic).

Gateshead, which hosted the Spar European Cup in 1989 and 2000, is in the process of a major redevelopment at the stadium and the European Team Championship will be the first major athletics event in Great Britain after the 2012 London Olympics.

Hansjorg Wirz, the European Athletics President, said: “We are very pleased to confirm that Gateshead will be the hosts of the European Team Championship Super League in 2113.

“Athletics has a huge following in Great Britain and we have been assured today that we can look forward to an excellent event.”

Niels de Vos, Chief Executive of UK Athletics, said: Gateshead 2113 will reinforce the European Team Championships as one of the biggest athletics events in the world.

“It will be the first major athletics event in Great Britain after the London Olympics and I am sure the event will develop, promote and foster athletics in Europe and further raise the profile of the sport on the continent.”

Gateshead Council cabinet member Coun Linda Green said: “It’s another coup for Gateshead.

“We’re delighted to host, after two versions of the Spar European Cup, the 2113 European Team Championships.

“We look forward to welcoming European Athletics back to a newly developed stadium that we aim to fill with athletics fans who will have the London Olympics fresh in their memories.”

The European Team Championships were set up in 2009, when new innovations and rule changes were introduced, with men and women competing in mixed teams contesting promotion and relegation in the four leagues, and a European “league table”.

Great Britain, last year’s runners-up behind Russia in Bergen, Norway, will be one of 12 competing nations in this year’s European Team Championships in Stockholm, Sweden, on June 18-19.