– Posted on October 28, 2021
European Games
Nice catch for the 2023 European Games in Krakow-Malopolska (Poland). The Association of European Olympic Committees (EOC), behind the continental multisport event, announces the addition of a new sport to the program. Not the least, since it is athletics. So far, nothing very new, athletics having already been present at the first two editions of the European Games, in Baku in 2015 and then in Minsk in 2019. But, in both cases, the format and the participation were not really up to the occasion. In Baku, the competition was reduced to the third division of the European team championships. In Minsk, four years later, it took the form of a new concept, called Dynamic New Athletics (DNA), certainly innovative, but very difficult to read. For the European Games in Krakow-Malopolska in 2023, athletics will have a highly valued place, since the continental meeting will serve as the backdrop for the European team championships. Better still: the EOC and the European Athletics Association (EA) have reached an agreement for all divisions of the European Team Championships to be played consecutively at the Slaski stadium, located in the Polish region of Silesia. With this addition, the 2023 European Games program now includes 24 sports or disciplines: athletics, 3 × 3 basketball, archery, badminton, beach handball, beach soccer, boxing, breaking, canoeing, cycling, fencing, judo, karate, modern pentathlon, muaythai, kickboxing, padel, shooting, summer ski jumping, rock climbing, table tennis, taekwondo, teqball and triathlon. There are two major absentees: gymnastics and swimming.
