European Athletics Championships: what you need to know

More than 1,500 of Europe's best athletes are set to descend on Birmingham this month as the city hosts the European Athletics Championships.

The renovated Alexander Stadium will welcome competitors from about 50 countries for seven days.

Organisers have promised "elite performances, homegrown heroes and edge-of-your-seat finals".

Here is everything you need to know.

The championships will take place at Alexander Stadium in Perry Barr, Birmingham.

First opened in 1976, the stadium became the home of UK Athletics in 2011 before undergoing a redevelopment ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

It is said to be the largest athletics stadium in the UK, seating around 18,000 people.

The North Stand has been renamed the Matthew Hudson-Smith Stand in honour of the Wolverhampton-born Olympic medallist and four-time European champion.

Spectators have been advised not to drive to the venue as Alexander Stadium will operate as a car-free venue for the event.

There will be no spectator parking available at the stadium or in the surrounding local area.

A pre-booked shuttle bus will run from Birmingham city centre. The pick-up point is James Watt Queensway.

For those travelling by train, Perry Barr railway station is the nearest stop, about a 20-minute walk from the stadium.

Perry Barr is regularly serviced by trains running from Birmingham New Street Station, Rugeley, Walsall, and Wolverhampton with additional services running on event days.

Bus services including the 51, X51 and 52 stop near Perry Avenue, while the 33, 907, 907A, 934, 935, 936, 937, 937A and 997 stop close to Perry Park.

Birmingham Airport is also expected to welcome athletes and spectators from across Europe.

The championships run from 10 to 16 August with competition taking place across seven days.

The action begins on 10 August with the men's hammer and women's shot put events, plus sprint and hurdles on the track, with the first medals handed out including the winner of the men's 5000m final.

The final day features nine finals, including 4x400m relays, the 4x100m relay, the women's 1500m and the men's pole vault.

There will also be "one-day deciders" where events like the 100m sprint will go from heats through to the final on the same day.

A host of Olympic and world champions are expected to compete.

Great Britain's 98-strong team includes Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson, sprinter Dina Asher-Smith and heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson.

As well as 400m star Hudson-Smith, who was born in Wolverhampton, there are several athletes from the West Midlands in Team GB, including middle-distance runner Issy Boffey and marathon runner Ellis Cross from Birmingham.

High jumper Joel Clarke-Khan and marathon runner Rose Harvey both hail from Worcestershire, while Clara Evans, another marathon runner, is from Hereford. Relay runners Josh Faulds and Jake Minshull are from Rugby and Coventry respectively, and long jumper Jazmin Sawyers is from Stoke-on-Trent.

From elsewhere in the world, Swedish pole vault world record holder Mondo Duplantis, Dutch star Femke Bol, Italy's Nadia Battocletti and Mattia Furlani, Portugal's Isaac Nader and Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen are all expected to feature.

Britain heads into the championships as the most successful nation in the event's history, having won 134 medals, including 50 golds.

The championships will be shown live across the BBC.

Coverage begins on BBC Two at 10:30 BST on 10 August, with action throughout the week on BBC One, BBC Two and iPlayer.

BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds will provide daily live commentary, while the BBC Sport website and app will feature live coverage, reports, analysis and video clips.

Jeanette Kwakye will present the morning television coverage, with Gabby Logan hosting in the evenings. They will be joined by Olympic medallists and athletics experts including Jessica Ennis-Hill, Greg Rutherford and Jenny Meadows.

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