Austria sends record team to European Athletics Championships

Austria will send a record 24 athletes to the European Championships in Birmingham, which begin on Monday, ORF reported. Raphael Pallitsch, Caroline Bredlinger and Niklas Strohmayer-Dangl are among those targeting places in their finals.

Bredlinger, Austria’s fastest 800-metre runner, will make her outdoor European Championship debut. She is aiming to reach the semi-finals.

“That would be the big goal for me and also the hope, because I have been involved more often now and have always narrowly failed,” Bredlinger said.

The women’s 800 metres will be one of the events in focus in Birmingham, with Swiss runner Werro and British Olympic champion Hodgkinson pursuing the long-standing world record.

For Niklas Strohmayer-Dangl, reaching the semi-finals is the minimum target. The athlete from Neufeld is 16th on the European entry list in the 400-metre hurdles.

A place in the final also appears possible, he said. “It will definitely take a new Austrian record and definitely a time under 49 seconds. But perhaps with a little bit of luck, I don’t consider anything impossible.”

Strohmayer-Dangl also hopes to race alongside Norwegian Olympic champion and world champion Karsten Warholm. “It would also be a small dream come true, simply to be able to perform on the same stage as the current world-record holder,” he said.

Pallitsch reached the European Championship final in Rome in 2024, finishing sixth in the 1,500 metres. He will again need everything to come together in Birmingham to qualify for the final.

“Because of the high level of competition in the 1,500 metres, I think qualifying for the final will be an extremely close decision,” Pallitsch said. “What happens in the final is then also partly in the hands of everyone else, because it is a tactical event.”