An extraordinary event, which put Rome and Italy at the centre of the world for the past six days. The Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships closed their doors with a formidable tally in terms of sports performance, participation, entertainment and media coverage.

Six days of amazing sports performances

The choice bring forward the European Championships to the first week of June transformed them into a pathway to the Olympic Games in Paris, making them essentially the European Trials. This is confirmed by the wealth of great performances: the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships close with 15 championship records, 47 national records, 256 personal records, extraordinary statistical numbers.

There were 1474 athletes in the competition on the track and field of the Olimpico and on the road events on the streets of Rome, representing 48 European federations, of which gained medals and 35 saw their athletes finish in the top eight positions in at least one final.

Italy’s athletics team dominated the medal table thanks to the 24 medals awarded, of which 11 gold, acquiring a leadership position in the context of European athletics, followed by France with 16 medals (4 golds), and Great Britain & Northern Ireland with 13 medals (also 4 gold medals).

An inclusive event, closer to the public and athletes

Roma 2024 introduced innovations aimed at making this event a memorable experience, both for the public and for athletes. For the first time, the long and triple jumps were set up a few metres from the Tribuna Tevere stands, bringing athletes into close contact with the public. The renovated Stadio dei Marmi (main warm-up and training area) was accessible free of charge to all athletics enthusiasts. The race walk and the half marathon competitions ended with the finish line inside the Olympic Stadium, a triumphant entry for athletes in the trail of the iconic the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. Finally, as many as 135 medals of the 147 total were delivered on the mega-stage at the Medal Plaza set up in the Piazza of the Fountain of the Sphere, giving medalists and the public other moments of great emotion and fan experience in the free-access fan village.

The approximately 20 hectares of the historic Parco del Foro Italico and the streets of Rome of the half marathon route, saw the presence of about 235 thousand people, including the 137 thousand spectators present at the Olympic Stadium.

Brilliant viewing figures and unprecedented media interest

Despite the great competition for media attention during the same week, (Tennis Open in France and the football friendlies ahead of the European Championships), Roma 2024 played a leading role in television and radio programming in major European markets and great attention across social media platforms.

Aggregate broadcaster viewing data confirms the positive trend, that sees Roma 2024 surpassing the already excellent numbers of Munich 2022 that reached 382 million global viewers and 720 million audiences across all media, digital and analogue.

In France, prime time tv figures  always exceeded one million viewers on event days, reaching 1.8 million on Saturday night. In the Scandinavian countries, the market share above 50%. In Germany, Sunday’s evening touched 4.1 million viewers on the flagship ARD channel.

In Italy, the evening of Tuesday, June 11, watched attentively from the stands by the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella, obtained an aggregate of 4.9 million viewers between RAI 2 and Sky Sport. This peak was also touched last night (4.7 million viewers, of which 3.5 on RAI 2 and 1.2 on Sky Sport) with the host country’s Head of State present once again at the Olympic Stadium to follow the final evening.

The legacy

Italy’s athletics team increasingly the protagonists of the championships. A balanced budget. A sustainable legacy project, aimed at increasing the value of athletics, redeveloping the territory and contributing to the economic and tourist growth of the capital city and of the country as a whole. These are the traits of Rome 2024, which now hands over the baton to the city of Birmingham for the edition of the 2026 European Athletics Championships.

The IX edition of the Future Leaders Forum, formerly known as the Young Leaders Forum, was officially opened yesterday morning at the Parco del Foro Italico in Rome. Organized by the European Athletics with the support of the Local Organizing Committee of the European Athletics Championships Rome 2024 and Deloitte as a supporting partner, the event brings together the current generation of sports leaders with young talents from across Europe, ready to take on leadership roles in Athletics in the near future.

The four-day Forum was inaugurated by the Presidents of European Athletics and World Athletics, Dobromir Karamarinov and Lord Sebastian Coe, respectively, who addressed an audience of 68 promising future leaders from 42 European federations.

Following the theme “You as a Leader,” today’s and tomorrow’s sessions will focus on “Current issues in Athletics”, concluding with a day centered on “Managing the Future”. Numerous prominent figures in Athletics and sports management will discuss these topics, including Lea Sprunger, former European gold medalist in the 400 meters hurdles and entrepreneur, Alessio Gorla, Italian sprinter and tech entrepreneur, Esther Akihary, Dutch Olympic sprinter and Vice President of the Royal Dutch Athletics Federation, Donna Fraser, four-time British Olympia and leader in equality, diversity, and inclusion in business and sports, Scott Grace, National Technical Lead for Athletics England for youth development and creator of a renowned youth development program, Sasho Belovski, sports business expert, Karin Grute Movin, Vice President and Executive Committee Member of European Athletics and Chair of the Development Commission, Alessio Punzi, Head of Running and Mass Participation at World Athletics.

In addition to panel discussions, participants will engage in hackathons (organized in collaboration with Deloitte, ed), mentoring sessions and interactive workshops. They will also have the unique opportunity to attend the European Athletics Championships Rome 2024, experiencing the competitions firsthand alongside their peers.

These formative moments will not only enhance their technical and managerial skills but will also open doors to idea exchange, the creation of lasting professional networks, and the exploration of innovative solutions to the challenges modern Athletics faces. The sessions are designed to strengthen leadership skills, identify and enhance personal potential, and transform personal passions into significant contributions to their respective federations. Participating in this Forum represents a tangible opportunity to grow professionally and make a meaningful impact on the future of Athletics.

Great performances, top event ratings, passion and enthusiasm for the Rome 2024 European Athletics Championships in the capital’s historic Foro Italico complex. An extraordinary weekend for athletics and for the host nation’s team (known as ‘Azzurri‘ after the colour of their jerseys), projected towards an unprecedented medal haul.

Crowds and viewers celebrate Athletics at the Foro Italico

The growing audience numbers follow the brilliant performances of European athletes over the first days of the competition and of Italy’s own Azzurri team. Aggregate pre-sale of tickets exceeded 120,000, with around 40 thousand spectators present at the Olympic Stadium to watch a magical Saturday of Italian athletics.

The Fan Village and the Medal Plaza in front of the Sphere fountain at the Foro Italico also benefit from the heightened attention to the event, with bustling crowds in the free-access fan area cheering their favourite athletes the awards ceremonies. The excitement is building up for Sunday evening’s event at 23.20, when Marcell Jacobs and Chituru Ali (the historic double Gold-Silver medal winners in the 100 meters) will take to the stage as well as Mattia Furlani for his silver in the long jump. At 19.20 the stage and Italy’s national anthem will play once again for Lorenzo Simonelli, who dominated the 110 hurdles final yesterday.

The Olympic Stadium as you’ve never seen before. With four days to go before the start of the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships, the atmosphere of the big event scheduled from 7-12 June, is already in the air at the Foro Italico Park.

The stadium has been set up following the unmistakable theme of Roma 2024, its colors, shapes and photos of some of the great champions who will compete for six consecutive days.

An event that has been awaited for 50 years will see more than 1,600 athletes representing 48 European federations competing in 24 different disciplines.

Just today the Eternal City welcomes the first superstars ready to perform at the Olympic Stadium: expected to arrive in the evening are world 400-meter hurdles champion Femke Bol (Netherlands) and European high jump queen Yaroslava Mahuchikh (Ukraine).

From June 8 to 12, 2024, Rome will be the stage for the IX edition of the Future Leaders Forum, formerly known as the Young Leaders Forum. This year’s theme, “Be the Leader of Tomorrow”, reflects the inspiration behind the event. Organized by European Athletics with the support of the Local Organizing Committee of the European Athletics Championships Rome 2024 and with Deloitte as the supporting partner, the event continues the tradition of successful editions held alongside previous European Athletics Championships. The Rome Future Leaders Forum will be a particularly significant milestone, thanks to the growing importance placed on nurturing young talent in the European sports landscape.

«We thank Deloitte for their generous support of this year’s edition of the Future Leaders Forum. The success of our sport at all levels depends upon its relevance and engagement with young people. It’s important that the current generation of leaders and the future generation of leaders have opportunities like this to learn from one other. The current generations have valuable knowledge and experience, but we must also be open to innovation and the ideas of the emerging younger voices in our sport in an ever-changing world» declared Dobromir Karamarinov, president of European Athletics.

«Leadership in athletics is one continuous relay race. As leaders we must run our legs as best we can, but also ensure the baton is safely passed on to the future leaders so they have the best chance of succeeding. We look forward to a successful 2024 Future Leaders Forum at Roma 2024» he added.