With under two months to go until the official debut of Dynamic New Athletics (DNA) at the European Games Minsk 2019 from 21-30 June, 24 of the top teams in Europe have confirmed their participation in the new competition format created by European Athletics.
The National Olympic Committees (NOCs) that have confirmed their participation in Minsk are: Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia*, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Türkiye, and Ukraine.
The 24 teams have been selected based on their rankings from the previous European Athletics Team Championships, and while some teams have been disappointed not to have been selected for DNA’s debut, European Athletics remains confident that all countries will have the opportunity to take part in DNA at future events.
In addition to competing for European glory at Minsk 2019, athletes in all DNA disciplines expect The Hunt, which has no Olympic Games equivalent, will be eligible for qualification for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. The IAAF Council approved the qualification system and entry standards for Tokyo 2020 at a meeting in early March that extended the qualification window by two months (from 1 July to 1 May, which now covers the European Games) for most disciplines.
The format of the competition in Minsk will see all teams taking part in four qualifying matches on Sunday 23 June before resuming with a day of quarterfinal and semifinal matches on Tuesday 25 and Wednesday 26 June. The final will take place on Friday 28 June in Dinamo Stadium, where the inaugural DNA champions will be crowned.
DNA is comprised of nine athletics events taking place immediately after the previous has finished. The events, in order, are: 100m (men), long jump (women), 100m (women), javelin throw (women), mixed 4x400m, 110m hurdles (men), high jump (men), 100m hurdles (women), and The Hunt: a winner-takes-all distance medley relay race, where the teams will begin from a time-staggered start based on the points accumulated across the other events, meaning the first team past the post will be crowned the overall winner.
With Tokyo 2020 qualifying opportunities available for athletes at the competition, DNA is likely to be one of the most popular sports during the second edition of the European Games. For more information on the competition format and the qualifying teams, please visit www.dna.run
* Russian athletes must receive Authorised Neutral Athlete (ANA) eligibility from the IAAF