President Svein Arne Hansen rounded off his visit to the SportAccord Convention in Sochi, Russia, by hosting a reception for key media representatives on Wednesday.
The President gave an overview of a busy first few days at the helm of European Athletics since being elected at the Congress in Bled on Saturday 11 April.
He also outlined the next steps in initiating the changes he wants to be made in various areas.
“We have our first Executive Board (EXBO) meeting in Lausanne on the 28th and 29th of April, with Vice Presidents Dobromir Karamarinov, Jean Gracia and Frank Hensel and Director General Christian Milz, where we will start work on implementing our plans for the future.”
Prior to the EXBO, a working group will meet on Monday 27 April to discuss the changes President Hansen wants to make to the European Athletics Convention.
“I want a much bigger and better Convention, for the athletics world, for all our partners, for the media. I have already invited some influential figures in the sports world to speak at the Convention,” said President Hansen.
While in Sochi, the President made it a priority to get up to speed on plans for the 2018 European Sports Championships, holding meetings with the key people behind the multi-sport concept.
“I have had some very good discussions here and I am 100 percent behind the European Sports Championships,” said the President. “I think it will be very good for our sport. First and foremost, I am sure we will have an excellent European Athletics Championships in 2018 in Berlin. And we will further build on the prestige, profile and media exposure of these championships through increased television audiences by coordinating with the other sports in a format attractive to broadcasters, ensuring, of course, that athletics remains on primetime television.”