A look ahead to the action in Istanbul this week, including medal predictions, useful links and streaming info
Back in 2012 the Atakoy Athletics Arena in Istanbul hosted the World Indoor Championships where winners included Ashton Eaton with a world record in the heptathlon, Valerie Adams in the shot put and Yelena Isinbayeva in the pole vault. Yamilé Aldama leapt to triple jump gold for Britain aged 39, while her team-mates in the women’s 4x400m scored a dramatic victory over the United States with Perri Shakes-Drayton holding off the challenge of world champion Sanya Richards-Ross to take gold.
If events at the 37th European Indoor Championships in the same stadium this week (March 2-5) come anywhere close to generating that level of excitement, it will be a weekend to remember. Not surprisingly, though, organisers are keen to keep a lid on the pre-event publicity given that the host country is reeling from recent earthquake disasters.
“Serious discussions took place about whether it was appropriate for these championships to go ahead in such tragic circumstances,” European Athletics president Dobromir Karamarinov reveals, “but in the end all parties agreed they could provide some hope and have a positive impact on the country and its people.”
He adds: “However, these championships will not be the same as others. Consequently, we are toning-down the usual celebratory side-events and activities and focussing instead on the safety of our athletes and on providing them with the competition itself, along with providing help and support to the people of Turkey.”
The European Indoor Championships has always been a happy hunting ground for British athletes and in the all-time medals count only Russia has beaten Britain’s tally of 72 golds, 65 silvers and 52 bronzes. You can glance back at British successes here with our review of the period 1966-1975, 1976-1985, 1986-1998 and 2000-2019 with our 2021 coverage from Toruń here.
If you want a deep dive into the European Indoor Championships, though, then download our special digital issue. It is free to AW magazine subscribers but is available for non-subscribers as well here and contains event-by-event previews packed with statistics ahead of this weekend, plus interviews and nostalgia.
Keep an eye on our social media updates this weekend from our team in Istanbul with news and interviews.
For live timetable details and results, see the official site here.
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