01 January 2026
European Championships in Birmingham, World Indoor Championships in Poland, World Relays in Botswana. Youth in Eugene (U20 World Championships) and Rieti (U18 European Championships). Here is the agenda of international athletics in the new year
by Marco Buccellato
For athletics, 2026 is the year of the European Championships (10-16 August) which for the first time in their 27th edition will be held in Birmingham, England, a city that has already organized the European Indoor Championships in 2007 with sparkling blue memories (six medals: three gold, one silver and two bronze). Two years after the amazing European Championship in Rome 2024, the Italian team finds the main event of the season in the metropolis of the West Midlands. If in 2026 Europe and its protagonists will converge on the United Kingdom in August, the world and a good part of the big Europeans are expected at the indoor world championship in Torun (20-22 March) in the Kujawy Pomorze region, in Poland, where the World Championships return twelve years after the Sopot edition in 2014.
WORLD-AGENDA – The awarding of world titles in 2026 does not stop here. The first podiums will be contested already on Saturday 10 January, in Florida, with the World Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, for the third time of the event in the United States after East Rutherford (1984) and Boston (1992). The under 20 world titles are also up for grabs, again in the USA, at Hayward Field in Eugene (5-9 August) which has already hosted the highest global youth event in 2014. We go to Africa for the World Relays on 2 and 3 May in Botswana, in Gaborone. In South America here is the World Team Walking Championships, in Brasilia, on April 12th. The last world titles of 2026 in Copenhagen, on 19 and 20 September, in the next edition of the Road Running World Championships, while at a youth level 2026 offers the new edition of the Youth Olympic Games with an African venue in Dakar, from 31 October to 13 November.
RIETI 2026 AND… – Four days, from Thursday 16th to Sunday 19th July, at the Guidobaldi stadium in Rieti for the fifth edition of the U18 European Championships, the biggest continental youth event of next season. The international agenda for 2026 also touches the peninsula on May 23, with the 10,000 meters European Cup awarded to La Spezia. The Mediterranean Games are scheduled in Taranto (30 August-3 September), the Italian venue also for the World University Cross-Country Championships, in Cassino (14-15 March), while for the masters there is the non-stadia European Championships in Catania (1-3 May). Again for the youth categories, the Under 18 International Mountain Running Cup in Gagliano del Capo, on 21 June.
EUROMEDAGLIE – Not just Birmingham, not just Rieti. One week after the World Indoor Championships in Poland, here is the European Throwing Cup in Nicosia on 14 and 15 March. On the eve of summer it’s the turn of the “off road” European Championship in Slovenia, in Kamnik from 5 to 7 June. The continental calendar ends on a high note, as per tradition, with the 32nd edition of the European Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, on 13 December.
HUNT FOR THE DIAMOND TROPHY – The new season of the Diamond League starts again on May 8th from Doha, the first of the fourteen stages towards the final in Brussels. The Golden Gala Pietro Mennea is the first European event, on 4 June, after Shanghai (16 May), Xiamen (23 May) and Rabat (31 May). Rome will inaugurate a week of fire for the circuit: the meeting at the Olympic Stadium will be followed by those in Stockholm (7 June) and Oslo (10 June). Another block of four meetings in just over three weeks, from Paris (28 June) we fly to Oregon (Eugene, 4 July), to return to Europe in the Principality of Monaco (10 July) and to London (18 July). After the European Championship in Birmingham, the circuit resumes with the last three stages of Lausanne (21 August), Chorzow (23 August) and Zurich (27 August) before the apotheosis of the two days in Brussels (4-5 September).
WORLD INDOOR TOUR – Almost 80 meetings included in the World Athletics Indoor Tour, including eight at Gold level, with the first stop on January 24th in Boston and conclusion on February 22nd in Torun. The last meeting of the entire indoor winter agenda falls on March 12, in Uppsala, with the Mondo Classic, an event organized by Armand “Mondo” Duplantis. In the calendar the circuit touches Italy with the Memorial Alessio Giovannini (Ancona, 17 January), the High Jump Indoor in Lucca (31 January) and the Udin Jump Development in Udine (4 February).
CONTINENTAL TOUR – The WACT Gold will have eleven stages across five continents, starting in Melbourne on March 28th and finishing in Budapest on July 14th. In chronological order, Italian meetings in Busto Arsizio (3 May, Challenger), Florence (9 May, Challenger), Savona (20 May, Bronze), Trieste (30 May, Challenger), San Vito al Tagliamento (2 June, Challenger), Venafro (2 June, Challenger), Lucca (7 June, Challenger), Lignano Sabbiadoro (8 July, Bronze), Celle Ligure (16 July, Challenger), Brescia (30 August, Silver), Padova (2 September, Bronze) and Rovereto (7 September, Silver). Seven Gold stages are planned for the World Race Walking Tour: the circuit opens in Taicang (China) (1-2 March), the final act in Spain (Madrid, 31 May). Multiple tests: three Gold meetings in Götzis (30-31 May), Ratingen (27-28 June) and Talence (18-19 September), Italian stage with the 39th Multistars in Brescia (25-26 April, Bronze).
ULTIMATE CHAMPIONSHIP – The novelty of 2026, in the absence of the World Championships which will return in 2027, is the first edition of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship staged in Budapest (11-13 September). In the new spectacular creation, 26 individual races in three days: the participants will be the gold medalists of the Paris Olympic Games, the world champions of Tokyo 2025 and the winners of the Diamond League 2026. The remaining places will be assigned through the World Athletics ranking, with no limit on the number of athletes per country, and will see the introduction of the 4×100 mixed relay in addition to the 4×400 mixed.
CROSS, MARATHONS, AREA-ZONES AND MASTERS – Started at the end of 2025, the current World Athletics Cross Country Tour has eight other events: it starts on 11 January with the 48th Cross della Vallagarina (Bronze) while the second of the five Gold stages is the 69th Campaccio di San Giorgio su Legnano, on 25 January. Conclusion of the Gold Level in Eldoret (Kenya) on February 14th. The top marathons: there will also be seven World Marathon Majors in 2026, after the introduction of the 42km in Sydney in 2025. We start with the usual order: Tokyo opens (March 1st), the great end of April with Boston (Monday 20th) and London (Sunday 26th). Sydney falls on August 30th, before the autumn trio with Berlin (September 27th), Chicago (October 11th) and New York (November 1st). 2026 is also the year of the Commonwealth Games (Glasgow, from 27 July to 1 August) and the Ibero-American Championship in Lima (29-31 May). For masters athletics, the European Indoor Championships in Torun (27 March – 2 April) and the Outdoor World Championships in Daegu (22 August – 3 September).
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