2022 European Athletics Championships Viewing Guide: Ingebrigtsen Doubles, Warholm Returns, Hodgkinson Chases Gold
By Jonathan Gault
August 12, 2022
The biggest meet in the running world this upcoming week is unquestionably the European Athletics Championships in Munich. Beginning on Monday, August 15, and running through Sunday, August 21, a number of the sport’s biggest stars will head to the Olympiastadion — the same stadium that hosted the Munich Olympics 50 years ago — in search of continental glory. Mondo Duplantis, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Jake Wightman, Keely Hodgkinson, and Laura Muir are among the major names who will be in action in Germany, while Olympic champs Marcell Jacobs and Karsten Warholm are also entered after struggling with injuries at the World Championships (Sorry women’s distance fans, but Sifan Hassan is not entered).
And the good news is the meet should be super easy even for Americans to watch as it will be available to stream on the Eurovision website.
Below, we’ve put together a viewing guide for all seven days so you can make sure not to miss any of the big races. For most of the races, we only talk about the finals and assume the big name will make the final but obviously that might not happen due to injury, withdrawal, poor performance, drug bust, etc.
*TV/streaming information *Schedule, entries, & results
ALL TIMES IN THE ARTICLE ARE LOCAL — SUBTRACT 6 HOURS FOR US EASTERN TIME
Monday, August 15
Finals: men’s & women’s marathon, women’s 10,000, men’s & women’s shot put
There’s no screwing around as the women’s (10:30 a.m., remember all times are local so subtract 6 hours for US ET) and men’s (11:30 a.m.) marathons will be held on the morning of day 1. The top seed on the women’s side is the Netherlands’ Nienke Brinkman, who was born in Indonesia but raised in the Netherlands. She only began running at age 27 during the COVID lockdown in 2020 but has made humongous improvements and ran a Dutch record of 2:22:51 in Rotterdam in April.
In the women’s 10,000 meters (9:48 p.m.), Eilish McColgan, fresh off a victory at the Commonwealth Games, will be favored for gold. 2016 champ Yasemin Can of Turkey and 2018 champ Lonah Salpeter of Israel — who earned world bronze in the marathon just 28 days earlier — are also among the entries, as is Norway’s Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal (8th at Worlds in the 5,000).
Tuesday, August 16
Finals: men’s and women’s 100, men’s 5000, men’s long jump, women’s discus, men’s decathlon day 2
The men’s 5,000 (9:08 p.m.) will feature world champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen going for part 1 of his double against Worlds 1500 bronze medalist Mohamed Katir of Spain (12:50 pb) and Germany’s Mohamed Mohumed (13:03 pb).
In the men’s 100 (10:15 p.m.), Olympic champ Marcell Jacobs of Italy is entered but it’s TBD whether he’s healthy enough to make it to the final as he was forced to withdraw after the first round at Worlds last month due to injury. If he is absent, Reece Prescod (9.93) of Great Britain is the 2022 European leader while his countryman Zharnel Hughes is the reigning champion, but both were beaten by 21-year-old Jeremiah Azu at the British championships. Azu is the only one who ran the 100 at the CGs (5th, 10.19, -0.9) as Prescod didn’t compete and Hughes was 2nd in the 200 (20.12).
The women’s 100 (10:25 p.m.) should be great with Worlds 4th-placer Dina Asher-Smith against World Indoor 60 champ Mujinga Kambundji and British champ Daryll Neita, who just ran a 10.90 pb in the semis at the Commonwealth Games where she was 3rd in the final.
Wednesday, August 17
Finals: men’s & women’s 400, men’s 110 hurdles, men’s triple jump, women’s hammer, women’s pole vault
Spain’s World Championship bronze medalist Asier Martinez will be favored in the men’s 110 hurdles (10:22 p.m.) while Great Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith will attempt to win his third individual medal of the summer in the men’s 400 (9:43 p.m.) after bronze at Worlds and silver at Commonwealths. The marquee race of the evening will be the Netherlands’ Femke Bol — who is attempting the 400/400 hurdles double — against Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek in the women’s 400 (10:02 p.m.). Both women broke 50 seconds in Chorzow on August 6 with Bol winning, 49.75 to 49.86.
Thursday, August 18
Finals: men’s 1500, women’s 5000, men’s high jump, men’s hammer, women’s long jump, women’s heptathlon day 2
Jakob Ingebrigtsen will attempt part 2 of his double in the men’s 1500 (9:05 p.m.), where he’ll go up against Worlds 4th placer Mario Garcia Romo of Spain and Great Britain’s Jake Heyward, who just ran a 3:31.08 pb to finish 5th at the Commonwealth Games.
The women’s 5,000 (9:25 p.m.) features a number of contenders. Great Britain’s Eilish McColgan was in great form at Commonwealths but could be tired as she will have run the 5k/10k double at Worlds, Euros, and Commonwealths. Of the women entered here, Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal, who set the Norwegian record of 14:31 earlier this year, was the top finisher at Worlds (8th), and Turkey’s Yasemin Can won this race in 2016. The home favorite will be Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen, who medalled at Worlds in this event in 2019. Klosterhalfen didn’t make the final at Worlds after getting COVID but ran 14:37 earlier this year. If she’s back on her game, she could challenge for the win.
Friday, August 19
Finals: women’s 1500, men’s 3000 steeplechase, men’s and women’s 200, men’s and women’s 400 hurdles, men’s discus, women’s triple jump; plus men’s and women’s 800 semifinals
The day starts with the women’s 800 semis in the morning (10:50 a.m.) and the evening session begins with the men’s 800 semis (8:27 p.m.) — always worth watching. In the women’s 1500 (8:45 p.m.), Great Britain’s Laura Muir will look to add European gold to her World bronze and Commonwealth gold, while fellow Brit Dina Asher-Smith will be favored in the women’s 200 (10:22 p.m. ET).
The men’s 200 (9:20 p.m.) will offer a chance to see one of the sport’s top young stars as 18-year-old Blessing Afrifah of Israel, fresh off a 19.96 championship record at the World U20 champs, will go for the European title. Femke Bol will also go for part 2 of her double in the women’s 400 hurdles (9:45 p.m.).
The biggest name in action is world record holder Karsten Warholm of Norway in the men’s 400 hurdles (10:00 p.m.). Warholm suffered his first defeat in that event in four years at the World Championships in Eugene, finishing 7th after entering the meet undertrained due to a hamstring injury. With another month of fitness under his belt, he’ll look to start a new winning streak in Munich.
Saturday, August 20
Finals: women’s 800, women’s 3000 steeplechase, men’s and women’s 4×400, men’s pole vault, women’s javelin
Anytime Mondo Duplantis is in action, the world record is under threat, and he’ll have fond memories of this meet as Euros is where he cleared 6 meters for the first time as an 18-year-old back in 2018. The men’s pole vault begins at 8:05 p.m.
On the track, Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson will be hoping for gold in the women’s 800 (8:15 p.m.) after silver at Worlds and Commonwealths and will go off as the heavy favorite. The women’s steeple (10:13 p.m.) should be fun as a number of Europeans have been in good form this year. Albania’s Luiza Gega was a surprising 5th at Worlds after running a 9:10 pb, but French record holder Alice Finot (9:14 sb) has also been in the form of her life this year while Lizzie Bird (9:07 in Monaco) and Aimee Pratt (9:15 for 7th at Worlds) have been trading off the British record in 2022.
Sunday, August 21
Finals: men’s 800, men’s 10,000, women’s 100 hurdles, men’s and women’s 4×100, women’s high jump, men’s javelin
World 1500 champ Jake Wightman will step down to the men’s 800 (7:40 p.m.) but he’s no lock for gold against Frenchmen Benjamin Robert (1:43.75 sb) and Gabriel Tual (6th at Worlds) plus Olympic bronze medalist Patryk Dobek of Poland. In all, there are 13 men in the field who have run 1:44 or faster this year.
Great Britain’s Marc Scott and Sam Atkin, Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa, and France’s Jimmy Gressier are the top entrants in the men’s 10,000 (8:00 p.m.), but is there a way to add Jakob Ingebrigtsen to the field? He’s never run a track 10,000, but European Athletics should institute a rule that he’s allowed to run the 10,000 if he wins the 1500 and 5,000 in Munich.