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In the fifth episode of European Athletics' mini-documentary series&nbsp;My Story,&nbsp;Croatia's Sandra Perkovic narrates her path from throwing 35 metres to becoming the first athlete in any event to win five European titles in the same event.
Perkovic also remembers some of the key figures who have helped her along the way, including her mother who she described as her biggest supporter. "She taught me that every year I need to work like it's my last year and I need to give more than one hundred percent," said Perkovic who also recalled how she surprised her by coming to watch her win her fifth title at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships.
Initially a shot putter in her formative years in the sport, Perkovic soon found her niche in the discus. Her long-time coach Ivan Ivancic, who died in 2014 shortly after Perkovic won her third European title in Zurich, predicted that she would one day become an Olympic champion even when she was only throwing the discus 35 metres.
"Ivan is a very important person in my life...he showed me the way, he gave me his best advice, he gave me power, courage and respect for the others. I'm still using those gifts from him," said Perkovic.
The episode can be watched in its entirely in the video below.&nbsp;
The sixth episode featuring reigning world and European long jump champion Malaika Mihambo will be published later this month.
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"I want to be remembered as the best female discus athlete ever." Sandra Perkovic

My Story Thumbnail Perkovic Nologo V4 Min

Perkovic: “I want to be remembered as the best female discus athlete ever”

Long jumper Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk and hammer thrower Myhaylo Kokhan have been voted Ukrainian Athletes of the Year for 2020.
Despite a turbulent year caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Bekh-Romanchuk and Kokhan both amassed notable summer campaigns. Bekh-Romanchuk won two events on the Diamond League circuit in the long jump and Kokhan, the reigning European U18 and U20 champion, improved his lifetime best in the hammer.
There were three stages to the voting. Fans, experts (the Ukrainian Athletic Association council) and media representatives all had their say, each accounting for one-third of the total vote.
"Back in June, we didn't expect anything special,&rdquo; Bekh-Romanchuk told the Ukrainian Athletic Association. &ldquo;It was said that Diamond Leagues were due to be staged but no one gave a one hundred percent guarantee. Therefore, all spring and half of the summer I trained in a light mode: I exercised once a day, purely to keep fit. It was not until late June-early July that the opportunity to compete became more apparent, but until we boarded the plane, there was no certainty.&rdquo;
Bekh-Romanchuk won five of her eight long jump competitions outdoors in 2020 which was highlighted by Diamond League victories in Stockholm (6.85m) and Doha (6.91m). Bekh-Romanchuk also went unbeaten through the indoor season and set an outright lifetime best of 6.96m at the Copernicus Cup in Torun, the host venue of the European Athletics Indoor Championships in March.
On the men&rsquo;s side, 19-year-old Kokhan topped the voting for the second year in succession. Despite being classified as an U20 in 2020, Kokhan still won five of his eight competitions with the senior implement and extended his lifetime best to 77.78m at the Istvan Gyulai Memorial in Szekesfehervar. He also won the Balkan senior title in Cluj-Napoca and crowned his illustrious junior career with gold at the Balkan U20 Championships.
&ldquo;Fortunately, I had the opportunity to compete in August and September: there were competitions in Ukraine and there were invitations to international tournaments. I also performed at the Balkan U20 and senior championships. But despite all the difficulties, I managed to improve my personal record in Sz&eacute;kesfeh&eacute;rv&aacute;r. We survived this year and are full of motivation for 2021,&rdquo; he said.

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Bekh-Romanchuk and Kokhan voted Ukrainian Athletes of the Year

In the fourth episode of European Athletics&rsquo; mini-documentary series My Story, Nafissatou Thiam reflects on her career all the way from winning a pot of jam for winning a cross country race in Belgium to winning the European heptathlon title in Berlin.&nbsp;
That gold medal secured the set of major heptathlon titles at the age of 23. Thiam is also one of only four women to surpass the 7000 points-barrier but the Belgian believes she will be at her peak at the Tokyo Olympics next year.
&ldquo;Tokyo was always the target,&rdquo; said Thiam. &ldquo;I know I can do something big because I&rsquo;m so much stronger now.&rdquo;
The full episode can be watched in full below and all previous episodes can be watched in their entirety on our YouTube channel.
The fifth episode of #MyStory will be published at 6pm on Thursday 7 January.
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Thiam: “I know I can do something big in Tokyo because I’m so much stronger now”

European Athletics Indoor Championships

Four of Ukraine's five medals at the last European Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow came in the field events and the Ukrainian cohort competing in Torun are poised to be similarly successful on the in-field from 4-7 March.
But what the Ukrainian team in Glasgow two years ago lacked was a gold medal from their travelling contingent to the Emirates Arena. However, they will have two excellent title candidates in the high jump with perennial two metre-plus performers Yuliya Levchenko and Yaroslava Mahuchikh both planning to compete in Torun.
Still only 23, Levchenko will be looking to complete the full set of European indoor medals. She won her first major senior medal as a teenager with bronze in Belgrade before improving to silver in Glasgow behind reigning world and European champion Mariya Lasitskene.
Levchenko, who has been training at home in Ukraine this winter, opened her competitive season at the Christmas Starts in Kyiv where she showed good early season shape with a 1.96m clearance on her first attempt.
&ldquo;We have a wonderful arena in Berezniaky where we continue to train in the winter. If I'm lucky I will have two or three international tournaments but this still needs to be confirmed because some countries are cancelling and postponing competitions so I can't say anything for sure yet,&rdquo; Levchenko told the Ukraine Athletic Federation in a recent interview.
After missing some key domestic competitions in 2020 due to injuries and schedule conflicts, Levchenko is also looking forward to taking part in two big events on the Ukrainian calendar including her national indoor championships. This could prove to be one of the most competitive women's high jump competitions of the entire winter season given the depth of talent in the Ukrainian ranks.
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&ldquo;My coach also plans that we will perform at the Ukrainian Indoor Team Championships and at the Ukrainian Indoor Championship. These are competitions we are always preparing for...and of course, the European Indoor Championships in March. If all goes well with health, we will do a full indoor season without missing any competitions.&rdquo;
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Levchenko finished second at the Christmas Starts meetings behind the precocious 19-year-old Mahuchikh who showed formidable early season form with a first-time clearance at 2.02m to equal her indoor lifetime best.&nbsp;
The European U18 and U20 champion didn&rsquo;t register a single failure between 1.80m and 2.02m and she concluded her campaign by taking three attempts at 2.04m. This would have matched her outright lifetime best which was set at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha.
&ldquo;After a successful attempt at 2.02m, I ordered a height of 2.04m. If I cleared it, it would have been a new national record. The second attempt was not bad, but before the third I had to measure the run-up again,&rdquo; rued Mahuchikh.
On her plans for the rest of the indoor season, she said: &ldquo;As for the competitions, I was sent invitations for competitions in Udine at the end of January and in Bansk&aacute; Bystrica on February 2. We will also prepare for the European Indoor Championships in March.&rdquo;
World and European long jump silver medallist Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk began her season with a rare outing in the 60m in Kyiv where she clocked 7.58, just 0.01 shy of her lifetime best in the event.
This augurs well for Bekh-Romanchuk's upcoming competitions in the long jump but like with so many athletes, her competition schedule is yet to be fully confirmed. However, the European Indoor Championships in Torun is a key competition on her calendar.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s still hard to say when I will compete because the calendar is still not confirmed. We still do not know what will be held in Europe, because many competitions are canceled or postponed. In addition, there are very few women's long jump competitions on the programme this year.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I hope that there will be at least two tournaments abroad and I will be able to compete against good company. But everything is so unstable that I do not know what will happen. However, we plan to take part in the European Indoor Championships which will be held in Torun,&rdquo; she said.
Bekh-Romanchuk won bronze in the long jump in Glasgow 2019 behind Serbia&rsquo;s Ivana Spanovic who won the title for the third successive time.

Leading Ukrainian field eventers to challenge for medals in Torun

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Kevin Mayer and Nafissatou Thiam took a double in the combined events at the Belgrade 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships and they have both expressed an interest in challenging for more continental honours in Torun from 4-7 March.
Mayer broke the European indoor heptathlon record in the Serbian capital four years ago with a score of 6479 points, one year before he reached the pinnacle of his career by breaking Ashton Eaton&rsquo;s world decathlon record in Talence, France with 9126 points.
His following two seasons might have been curtailed by injury but Mayer secured the Olympic qualifying standard for Tokyo just before Christmas in Reunion with a 2020 world leading score of 8552 points. These will be Mayer's third Olympic Games after London 2012 and Rio 2016 when he won silver behind Eaton.
Based on the combined 2019 and 2020 European decathlon list, this score also handsomely qualified Mayer for the heptathlon in Torun along with the Estonian duo of Maicel Uibo and Janek Oiglane, Kai Kazmirek from Germany and Pieter Braun from the Netherlands.&nbsp;
Thiam followed up her Olympic heptathlon triumph in 2016 with her first European senior title in the pentathlon in Belgrade the following winter. Thiam scored a still-standing lifetime best of 4870 points in the Kombank Arena, setting a championship best of 1.96m in the high jump en route to the title.
Other qualified athletes for the pentathlon in Torun include world bronze medallist Verena Preiner from and her Austrian teammate Ivona Dadic, the silver medallist behind Thiam in Belgrade four years ago. Hungary&rsquo;s Xenia Krizsan and Nadine Broersen from the Netherlands are also due to compete in Torun.
The remaining places shall be allocated to athletes based on their position on the 2021 European pentathlon and heptathlon list as of ten days prior to the first day of the European Athletics Indoor Championships.
The full list of qualified athletes and the qualifying process for the combined events in Torun 2021 can be found <a href="https://directus.european-athletics.com/public/uploads/european-athletics/originals/f3d504d0-ffed-4fb2-ad7b-25623fa20498.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Mayer and Thiam spearhead early combined events entrants for Torun

BERLIN, GERMANY - AUGUST 09:  Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium reacts as she competes in the Women's Heptathlon High Jump during day three of the 24th European Athletics Championships at Olympiastadion on August 9, 2018 in Berlin, Germany. This event forms part of the first multi-sport European Championships.  (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

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World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver and Bronze Meetings

The organisers of the Perche Elite Tour in Rouen have assembled glittering line-ups replete with reigning global and continental champions for both the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s pole vault competitions on 6 February.
Renaud Lavillenie was one of the first big names to be confirmed for the event but the line-up has been further embellished by the recent additions of two-time world champion Sam Kendricks from the United States and world record-holder Armand Duplantis from Sweden to the ranks.
Duplantis hasn&rsquo;t been beaten since Kendricks defeated the Swede to win his second world title in Doha in the autumn of 2019 but Duplantis went on to compile arguably the greatest ever season by a pole vaulter in 2020, taking the world record to 6.18m and clearing six metres or higher in 10 of his 16 competitions.
On the same day Duplantis broke the world record for the first time in his career with 6.17m at the Copernicus Cup in Torun, Kendricks cleared an almost unnoticed 6.01m at this meeting in Rouen to claim his second successive victory in the Kindarena.
Lavillenie missed the majority of the 2020 season due to injury but the 34-year-old made a sterling start to his indoor campaign on Saturday evening, clearing 5.92m off a 16-step approach in Bordeaux to match his best ever season&rsquo;s opener. Lavillenie also holds the meeting record in Rouen with a 6.04m clearance set in 2014 and has outlined that one of his goals this year is to return to regular six metre-form.
In the women&rsquo;s competition, reigning world indoor champion Sandi Morris from the United States takes on her long-time rival Ekaterini Stefanidi from Greece, the reigning Olympic and two-time European pole vault champion.
The two leading protagonists have both taken victories in Rouen over the years. Morris prevailed in 2017 with a 4.57m clearance, twelve months before Stefanidi won with a meeting record of 4.82m.&nbsp;
European indoor and outdoor medallist Holly Bradshaw from Great Britain has also been confirmed. Bradshaw won at this meeting twelve months ago with a 4.63m clearance.
Due to the prevailing safety and sanitary rules, this year's event will be taking place behind closed doors.

Glittering pole vault line-ups confirmed for Rouen

TORUN, POLAND - FEBRUARY 08: Armand Duplantis of Sweden sets new indoor pole vault world record of 6.17m during Copernicus Cup on February 8, 2020 in Torun, Poland. (Photo by Rafal Oleksiewicz/PressFocus/MB Media/Getty Images)

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After a low-key 2020 season, reigning European 110m hurdles champion Pascal Martinot-Lagarde began his indoor season in sharp form at the Meeting Elite de Miramas on Friday (22) evening.
Martinot-Lagarde opened his account with a 7.64 clocking in the 60m hurdles heats but the 29-year-old powered to an even faster time in the final. Pushed all the way by his long-time domestic rival Wilhem Belocian, Martinot-Lagarde stopped the clock at a world leading 7.54 with Belocian a very close runner-up in 7.57.
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&ldquo;I am one-tenth away from my personal best, it&rsquo;s not bad,&rdquo; said Martinot-Lagarde as reported by L&rsquo;Equipe.&nbsp;
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As always, Martinot-Lagarde is planning a full indoor season and his next race will be in Karlsruhe, Germany on Friday when he faces reigning world indoor champion Andrew Pozzi from Great Britain who also succeeded Martinot-Lagarde as the European indoor champion in 2017.&nbsp;
The Frenchman will also go head-to-head with reigning world outdoor champion Grant Holloway from the United States at the Meeting de l&rsquo;Eure in Val-de-Reuil on 14 February.
Martinot-Lagarde&rsquo;s indoor season will climax at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun from 4-7 March when he will be looking to make the podium in the 60m hurdles for the fifth successive edition.
Cyrena Samba-Mayela also set an early season world lead of 8.06 in the 60m hurdles heat but the youngster had the misfortune of false-starting in the final which was won by Laura Valette in 8.10.
Other highlights included Carolle Zahi winning the women&rsquo;s 60m in 7.19 and steeplechase specialist Djilali Bedrani winning the 1500m in 3:41.16.

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Martinot-Lagarde impresses with a 7.54 60m hurdles world lead in Miramas

Renaud Lavillenie officially enters the veteran ranks when he celebrates his 35th birthday in September but the grand old man of the pole vault made a sterling season&rsquo;s opener at the Star Perche Officiel in Bordeaux on Saturday (16).
On the road to the Torun 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships, Lavillenie cleared 5.92m on his second attempt to equal his best ever season&rsquo;s opener. His clearance was also a world lead albeit for only a few hours after 21-year-old KC Lightfoot cleared 5.94m in Lubbock, Texas later in the day.
Vaulting off a 16-step approach, Lavillenie sealed the victory over his younger brother Valentin with a second-time clearance at 5.82m. The manner in which he cleared that height suggested the next height of 5.92m wasn&rsquo;t an insuperable task and the former world record-holder duly wriggled over the crossbar at the second time of asking.
The Frenchman concluded his competition by taking three unsuccessful attempts at 6.00m, a height Lavillenie hasn&rsquo;t conquered since the 2016 World Indoor Championships in Portland.
&ldquo;But that is the objective this season,&rdquo; said Lavillenie as quoted by L&rsquo;Equipe. &ldquo;I cleared 5.80m in training and the objective today was 5.90m. I still have four steps to add and this will give me more speed. The signs are good.&rdquo;
Lavillenie&rsquo;s next competitions will be in Karlsruhe, Germany on 29 January and then in Tourcoing two days later on 31 January.&nbsp;
There were two national indoor records in the women&rsquo;s competition as training partners Femke Pluim from the Netherlands and Fanny Smets from Belgium both cleared 4.51m to ameliorate their previous records.
Pluim added one centimetre to her five-year-old record while Smets decimated her previous national indoor record of 4.40m. Her clearance at 4.51m also equals her outright Belgian record which she set in 2018.&nbsp;
Switzerland&rsquo;s Angelica Moser also cleared 4.51m to finish third on countback.
Elsewhere around Europe...
World and European long jump champion Malaika Mihambo opened her season with a third-place finish in the 60m at the Frankfurt Winter Cup on Saturday (16), clocking 7.49 in a race won by Lisa Mayer in a swift 7.26.
Mihambo competed in the long jump the following day and jumping off an abbreviated approach, the 26-year-old reached out to 6.52m to finish second on countback to Maryse Luzolo.
Fellow long jumper Khaddi Sagnia showed newfound speed on her season's debut in Gothenburg on Sunday (17). Sagnia smashed her lifetime best in the 60m with 7.26 which gives Sagnia the option of contesting the 60m as well as the long jump at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun.
European U23 100m champion Henrik Larsson won the 60m in 6.69 and Carl Bengstrom won the 400m in 47.01.
Fellow European U23 champion Ignacio Fontes clocked 3:40.76 in the 1500m in Antequera on Sunday (17).
Veteran Serbian shot putter Asmir Kolasinac, the 2013 European indoor champion, threw 20.40m in Belgrade on Saturday (16) to defeat Mesud Pezer from Bosnia &amp; Herzegovina with 20.30m. There was also another national record for Darko Pesic from Montenegro who won the 60m hurdles in 7.95.&nbsp;
European U18 and U20 heptathlon champion Maria Vicente achieved a promising set of results on her season's debut in San Sebastian on Saturday (16). Vicente won the 200m in 23.88 and the long jump with 6.21m.&nbsp;

BERLIN, GERMANY - AUGUST 12:  Renaud Lavillenie of France reacts in the Men's Pole Vault final during day six of the 24th European Athletics Championships at Olympiastadion on August 12, 2018 in Berlin, Germany. This event forms part of the first multi-sport European Championships.  (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

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Resurgent Lavillenie clears 5.92m in Bordeaux

World high jump silver medallist Yaroslava Mahuchikh made a brilliant season&rsquo;s debut at the Christmas Starts in Kyiv on Saturday (9), the traditional curtain raiser to the Ukrainian indoor athletics season.
Competing for the first time since the Rome Diamond League in mid-September, Mahuchikh didn&rsquo;t elicit any signs of having been away from the competitive arena for nearly four months. She achieved a flawless scorecard with seven first-time clearances from 1.80m all the way up to 2.02m to match her Ukrainian indoor record which she set in Karlsruhe last January.
Still only 19, Mahuchikh faced her domestic rival Yuliya Levchenko who matched her younger compatriot all the way through to 1.95m before bowing out of the competition at the next height of 1.98m. Levchenko's training partner Iryna Herashchenko finished third with a 1.92m clearance which matched the previous world lead held by three-time world champion Mariya Lasitskene.&nbsp;
Mahuchikh made 1.95m, 1.98m and 2.02m all on her first attempts before three unsuccessful attempts at 2.04m. This would have matched her outright lifetime best from the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha where she won silver less than a fortnight after celebrating her 18th birthday.
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Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk was also in action but the reigning European and world long jump silver medallist opened her campaign in the 60m as opposed to her specialist event. Bekh-Romanchuk tested her speed with a 7.58 clocking to finish second behind Mariya Mokrova in 7.49.
Elsewhere, former world and European medallist Lyudmyla Olyanovska set a national indoor 5000m race walk record of 20:59.1 and European bronze medallist Serhiy Nykfyorov won the long jump with 7.92m.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh's 2.00m-plus clearances
30 June 2019 - Palo Alto, 2.00m (3)
30 September 2019 - Doha (World Athletics Championships), 2.04m (2)
18 January 2020 - Lviv, 2.01m (1)
31 January 2020 - Karlsruhe, 2.02m (1)
22 February 2020 - Sumy (Ukrainian Indoor Championships), 2.01m (1)
23 August 2020 - Stockholm, 2.00m (1)
9 January 2021 - Kyiv, 2.02m (1)
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Mahuchikh soars over 2.02m on her season’s debut in Kyiv

The European Athletics High Performance Webinar series has been extended through until mid-June to ensure learning can continue and ideas can still be shared in spite of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The series recommences on Friday 8 January with a lecture entitled &lsquo;Rebuilding stronger - lessons learned from the pandemic&rsquo; which will be given by Swiss international hammer thrower Martin Bingisser.
This is one of three one hour-long lectures which will be given in January, and one of 13 which are due to take place across the next six months. To register for the High Performance Webinar series, please click on <a href="https://register.event-works.com/ea/ea_HPWS_2021/e/cp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this link</a> and follow the instructions.
The High Performance Webinar series is aimed predominantly at coaches, sport scientists and other medical staff such as doctors and physios as well as athletes. The full schedule can be found <a href="https://twitter.com/hannengland/status/1346892199720574977" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.&nbsp;
Further details on the European Athletics High Performance Webinar series can be obtained from the European Athletics Development Department at development@european-athletics.org.
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European Athletics High Performance Webinar series to recommence on Friday

The track for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Barcelona 1995, provided by the European Athletics Preferred Supplier Mondo, is being installed once again in the Catalan City&rsquo;s famous Palau Sant Jordi.
Work started on Monday this week (28) to re-install the track after an absence of nearly 25 years, which was noted at the time back in the mid-1990s for its innovative red, yellow and blue colour scheme.
The first indoor athletics competition at the Palau Sant Jordi for more than 25 years is scheduled for weekend of 16 and 17 January.
After the 1995 World Athletics Indoor Championships, the hydraulic banked track, which was among the first in Europe, was moved about 30 kilometres to nearby Vilafranca del Penedes where it staged more than 10 indoor meetings a year between 1996 to 2010 including a number of national championships.
The track has been based in the neighbouring city of Sabadell for the last decade but with the Sant Oleguer indoor arena there being used as a temporary hospital during the coronavirus pandemic, an agreement was reached recently between the Barcelona City Council and the Catalan Athletics Federation for the much-travelled track to return to where is first saw top class competition.
The Palau Sant Jordi was the main indoor arena during the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games, where is staged the artistic gymnastics competitions as well as volleyball and handball matches. In more recent times, the Palau has become one of Spain&rsquo;s major venues for large scale concerts but with such events currently not taking place due to the pandemic, it was time for the six-lane track (with an eight-lane straight in the middle) to &lsquo;come home&rsquo; to ensure the region can continue to stage international indoor meetings like those that have taken place in Sabadell on the same track in recent years.
The hydraulic track, <a href="https://www.mondoworldwide.com/emea/en/sport/track-and-field/">which Mondo developed and introduced to the market in 1988, </a>features two curved sections that can be banked to enable runners to maintain their top speeds going into turns. The hydraulic system can raise and lower the running surface in a just a few minutes.
Europe provided 13 of the 27 winners in Barcelona in 1995 &ndash; the women&rsquo;s pole vault wasn&rsquo;t yet contested at major international championships &ndash; with the highlight being the women&rsquo;s triple jump world indoor record of 15.03m by Russia&rsquo;s Yolanda Chen, the first women to break the 15-metre barrier indoors.
Other notable performances included Ukraine&rsquo;s Sergey Bubka adding to his incredible list of major international titles with his fourth world indoor pole vault gold medal, clearing 5.90m, and Germany&rsquo;s Alina Astafei winning the high jump title with 2.01m and Romanian teenager Gabriela Szabo winning her first major international senior title &ndash; with many more to come in an illustrious career &ndash; when she kicked to victory off the final turn of the 3000m to win in 8:54.50.
Mondo have provided the competition surface for 13 of the 17 World Athletics Indoor Championships to date as well as 13 of the last 16 European Athletics Indoor Championships since 1988. They will also be providing the tracks for the next two events as well: in Torun, Poland on 5-7 March 2021 and Istanbul, Turkey on 2-5 March 2023.

1994:  Yolanda Chen prepares to compete in a triple jump event during the IAAF Mobil Stockholm Grand Prix in Stockholm, Sweden. Mandatory Credit: Gray Mortimore  /Allsport

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Mondo's 1995 world indoor championships track finally returns home

European Athletics&rsquo; final question-and-answer session with a trail blazing women&rsquo;s leader in our sport is with the President of Luxembourg Athletics Federation &ndash;&nbsp;F&eacute;d&eacute;ration Luxembourgeoise d'Athl&eacute;tisme &ndash; Stephanie Empain.&nbsp;
She is one of only a small number of women at the head of a national athletics federation in Europe.
How did you become involved with athletics?
I started being involved in athletics at the age of six thanks to a local club reaching out to my school and involving us in their activities and continued competing until I was about 20.
I was quite successful as a teenager but unfortunately, with my studies, I didn&rsquo;t really have much time to stay involved and so stopped competing. However, athletics at that age gave me a lot of friends and I always stayed in contact with the sport. In fact, when I was young, my best friend&rsquo;s father was actually the Luxembourg federation president.
A few decades later you are now the national athletics federation president. How did that happen? After university (where she studied political science), I joined the army where I worked for the general staff. After that I was the head of my regional tourism office for six years. However, as mentioned, I always knew a lot of people involved in athletics from my own history in the sport.
I was elected to the Luxembourg parliament in October 2018 (as a member of the Green Party which is part of the ruling coalition) and became president of the Luxembourg athletics federation on 1 December 2018.
However, I had been asked before the parliamentary elections if I was interested in becoming president of the federation. I would not have applied directly myself to be president but when other federation officials asked me, I didn&rsquo;t hesitate. I quickly agreed and now I&rsquo;m very happy to be able to give something back to athletics.
How do you juggle both jobs?
Sleeping less! I also have two young children, and that doesn&rsquo;t make things easier. Being the president of our national athletics federation is a voluntary position, but I was raised to believe that you should dare to do things and my background in both the army and tourism gave me a good understanding of how medium-sized companies work, and that is really what the federation is.
For many reasons, it is harder than ever to find volunteers to be involved in sports organisations, it is a challenge for many sports federations not just in athletics. However, it is also clear our federation needs to become more professional, so they are many things for me to do although there was already a good basis built before I became the president.
What about specific European Athletics Women&rsquo;s Leadership Programme activities?
My first real involvement in this context was with the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.european-athletics.org/athletics-community/women-leaders/news/article=european-athletics-launches-women-leadership-webinar-series.html">Women&rsquo;s Leadership Programme Webinar Project</a>&nbsp;this summer. It is worth noting that the Programme itself was already well-established before my first involvement.
I found it truly inspiring to get to know other women via the Webinar Project, find out about their characters, and take the chance to build a network. It is really interesting to see all these women coming from different positions &ndash; coaches, athletes, officials etc. &ndash; coming together and see what issues they face in these various positions. It has helped me reflect on what I individually, and what we collectively, can do better.
What are your hopes for the future with regards to the role and status of women in our sport? In general, it is harder for women than men to progress and reach higher positions and this must change, not just in athletics. However, I am proud of the fact that within my federation there is a good gender balance with around 40 per cent of our officials being female. In addition, although I did not personally experience any specific barriers to reaching my position (as president), I should say that it is harder to cope with the subsequent attention, with the media treating you differently than they would treat a man and I would encourage them to change their way of thinking.
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Holding A Speech (3)

Stephanie Empain: "I found the Webinar Project truly inspiring"

SPAR is involved in sponsoring many sporting activities through the individual efforts of independent retailers, wholesalers and the combined sponsorship of European Athletics on an international basis. Internationally, SPAR has been the principal sponsor of European Athletics since 1996, becoming synonymous with the sport in this period. Athletics is a sport where personal endeavour is combined with team participation to achieve success. Honour and pride in winning the discipline remain athletes’ main incentive. SPAR identifies with this principle which is reflective of our highly successful retailers who continue to develop the brand through the formats and ensure that consumers enjoy shopping at SPAR. The European Athletics events of which SPAR is principal sponsor comprise three elements - indoor/outdoor and cross-country - spanning the entire year of competition. SPAR works with the national partner in each country to develop maximum awareness of the sponsorship and the critical link with individual athletes who are also customers of independent retailers. SPAR is proud to be involved with European Athletics, an organisation which strives to bring passion and enthusiasm for their sport to viewers, spectators and participants.

Spar

Le Gruyère AOP Switzerland started its long-term partnership with European Athletics in 2008. The highlight of the partnership will be the European Athletics Championships 2014 in Zurich, with the 2012 Helsinki championships inbetween. Le Gruyère AOP Switzerland is a cheese of very high quality, which has been hand-made for many centuries. It is a natural product without any additives. Le Gruyère AOP Switzerland is looking forward to welcoming you soon at a European Athletics event and to offer you a taste of our magnificent cheese.

Le Gruyere

Toyo Tires

Liqui Moly

Liqui Moli

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has been the broadcast partner of European Athletics since 1981. For more than 30 years, the outstanding collaboration between both organisations has always been focused on developing European Athletics into a more attractive product for television, spectators and athletes. Through its operational department Eurovision, the EBU is continuously working to promote Athletics by offering the most comprehensive coverage of European Athletics events all over Europe.

Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with 110,000 employees and annual revenue of € 12 billion. European number one in cybersecurity, cloud and high performance computing, the group provides tailored end-to-end solutions for all industries in 73 countries. A pioneer in decarbonization services and products, Atos is committed to a secure and decarbonized digital environment for its clients. Atos is a SE (Societas Europaea), listed on the CAC40 Paris stock index.

Atos is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games. Atos is also the Timing-Scoring, Results and Operations provider of European Athletics events since 2017, and European Athletics Official Digital Partner for their new digital platform (web and mobile).

 

Atos

Mondo

Rs 2

Getty Images is the world's leading creator and distributor of visual content – with award winning editorial photographers and videographers covering hundreds of Sports, Entertainment, and News events daily. Digital asset management and distribution services optimize efficiency and content syndication for hundreds of media partners and rights holders.

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Supporting Hotel

Official Photographic Agency