With less than 48 hours before the start of the 2014 European championships, over 1400 athletes from the 50 countries in Europe will be converging on Zurich, not to say anything about the tens of thousands of fans. Here are some last minute news items on the Champs, from our friend, Alfons Juck
MOSCOW (RUS): 24 years is the average age of Russian national team at European championships. “There are many young athletes in our team for Zurich, including two 17-year-old girls: pole vault world junior champion Alyona Lutkovskaya and 100m national youth record holder Kristina Sivkova. We are aiming to fight for the first place in team standings. But we are aware it’ll be not easy,” said president of All-Russian athletic federation Valentin Balakhnichev.
MUNCHEN (GER): German pole vaulter Malte Mohr has withdrawn from the European Championships citing technical problems. The 28 year old has no heighted in four of his last five competitions. Germany are also without World champion Raphael Holzdeppe and Olympic silver medallist Bjorn Otto. Their highest vaulter this year is Karsten Dilla, although he has also recent no heights to his name. The second pole vaulter in the team is Tobias Scherbarth
