The European Championships take place in Berlin next summer and for the host nation’s athletes, their domestic championships in Nuremberg on 21-22 July will represent one final opportunity to stake their place on the national team for the biannual event which begins in the Olympic Stadium on 7 August.
Ahead of the German Championships, world javelin champion Johannes Vetter and world 100m hurdles bronze medallist Pamela Dutkiewicz were featured in a photoshoot in Nuremberg’s Neues Museum on Thursday. Their faces will adorn the promotional material around the city in the build-up to the event.
Great Job! Unsere Top-Models Johannes Vetter und Pamela Dutkiewicz beim Foto-Shooting für die nächste DM #nuernberg2018 pic.twitter.com/g9IDKDqZ5X
— leichtathletik.de (@dlv_online) September 21, 2017
'I'm looking forward to being on a big poster ahead of what will be a very special German Championships for me,” said Dutkiewicz, who also won a bronze medal in the 60m hurdles at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade this March.
Five German sprint hurdlers broke the 13-second barrier last summer but Dutkiewicz was the standard bearer, clocking 12.61 in May ahead of the World Championships in London. That early season performance remained the fastest time by a European athlete in 2018 and a title could be in her grasp if she reproduces that sort of form next year.
'The European Championship in my home country has a high relevance so my coach will prepare me especially for it. My goal is to bring my best form to the track.'
Dutkiewicz’s season ended on a down note as she was forced to miss the Diamond League final due to a knee injury sustained during a fall in Warsaw but this will not impact on her preparations for the 2018 season. She will resume training next month under the tutelage of her coach Slawomir Filipowski with Berlin her main aim.
The men’s javelin will be one of the highlights of both the German Championships in Nuremberg and the European Championships in Berlin. Vetter claimed the German title ahead of Olympic champion Thomas Rohler in Erfurt in July - a precursor to his national record of 94.44m just two days later in Lucerne to move to second on the world all-time lists.
'This is a cool thing to be here on the posters before the German Championships in Nuremberg,' said Vetter.
Tickets for the German Championships are set to go on sale in the middle of October.
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 4 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.
- 4,500 athletes and 52 nations will compete across the seven sports.
- Potential TV audience of over 1 billion with millions more across multiple digital platforms.
- Over half a million spectators expected.