An exciting summer awaits after the announcement of the European Athletics Outdoor 2017 season of 22 Premium, Special Premium and Classic One Day meetings.
It starts with a double header on 1 june with action in both Greece and France and it could be quite an occasion for one of European Athletics’ superstars of this year at the Athens Street Pole Vault, which takes place on the same day as the Meeting International de Montreuil.This year in Athens, pole vaulter Ekaterini Stefanidi competed in front of her home fans for the first time after her world indoor bronze two months earlier.
If the reception she received then was amazing, as she won with a height of 4.65m, the noise level this time at one of two Special Premium meetings will surely hit a crescendo after her truly sensational summer where she won European and then Olympic gold.
There is something really special as the crowds gather in Syntagma Square for this event – and in 2017 it could be one of the best ever such has been the success of Stefanidi.
The European Athletics series will take its usual journey across the continent, with four more events in the next four days after the 1 June opener, with meetings in Bydgoszcz, Andujar, Marseille and Prague.
The Premium and Classic meetings have mandatory disciplines, split into four categories, as part of the programme.
For example, under the umbrella of Group A will be the men’s 400m hurdles and shot put and the women’s high jump and discus and they will take place at the 16th European Athletic Festival in Bydgoszcz (2 June), the Gothenburg Athletics Grand Prix (10 June), the 22nd European Athletics Classic Meeting in Velenje (21 June), the Meeting International de Sotteville (4 July) and the Night of Athletics in Heusden-Zolder (22 July).
The second Special Premium meeting on 22 August is the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial where Poland’s Olympic hammer champion Anita Wlodarczyk created her own legendary status this year when she broke the world record with 82.98m, only a few weeks after taking the mark to 82.29m at the Olympic Games in Rio.
Once more, this meeting in 2017 will be another great chance for Wlodarczyk to take the record even further.
In the build up to the major event of the summer, which next year is the IAAF World Championships in London between 5-13 August, these European Athletics meetings are crucial in an athlete’s preparation and for so many, they actually produce some of their best performances as they move towards a peak.