European half marathon champion Tadesse Abraham has been named on Switzerland’s 10-strong marathon team - five men and five women - for the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships from 7-12 August.
Abraham, who turns 36 on the day of the race, will be looking for his third successive medal from the European Championships. Abraham won the inaugural half marathon title in Amsterdam two years ago - along with gold in the team race - as well as bronze in the team race at the 2014 European Championships in Zurich.
Abraham, who finished ninth individually in Zurich, was the leading European finisher at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro where he finished seventh. Since then, he was fifth in the New York Marathon last year but he was a non-finisher in the Lake Biwa Marathon last March.
The women’s team is headed by Martina Strahl, who recently finished second in the Berlin Half Marathon in a national record of 69:29, and veteran Maja Neuenschwander, who finished ninth when the marathon was last held at the European Championships in Zurich in 2014.
More information on the 2018 European Championships:
- The Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships will be part of the first multi-sport European Championships along with co-hosts Glasgow.
- It will be a must-watch, must-attend experience that elevates the status of European Champions, uniting existing European Championships to celebrate the highest honour in European sport and celebrating the defining moments that create Champions.
- It is the continent’s ultimate multi-sport event, an 11-day celebration of European sport staged every four years.
- Seven of Europe’s leading sports (athletics, aquatics, rowing, golf, cycling, gymnastics, triathlon) will be brought together for the first edition.
- The European Athletics Championships in Berlin will be staged 7-12 August. The six other sports will be staged in Glasgow through 2-12 August.
- 4500 athletes and 52 nations will compete across the seven sports.
- Potential TV audience of over one billion with millions more across multiple digital platforms.
- Over half a million spectators expected.