One week into the European Games Krakow-Malopolska 2023, 41 countries have already secured medals, 31 ‘golden tickets’ have been claimed by athletes guaranteeing their place at Paris 2024, and the first-ever European Games medals have been awarded in beach handball, padel, muaythai, breaking, rugby sevens and ski jumping.
As we head towards an enthralling final weekend of the Games, here is a recap of the story so far.
Paris 2024 qualifying
German table tennis pair Dang Qiu and Nina Mittelham became the first athletes of the Games to secure their individual qualification to Paris 2024 when they won the mixed doubles gold medal in Krakow on Monday.
A further 30 ‘golden tickets’ have since been secured – 28 of them in boxing, where the semi-finalists in nine events qualify directly to Paris through the European Games. Those successful include French Olympic Champion from Rio 2016 Estelle Mossely.
Meanwhile, the first-ever qualifiers to an Olympic Games in the new sport of breaking were determined in Nowy Sacz, with B-girl India (NED) and B-boy Dany (FRA) booking their places in history.
Direct qualification spots for Paris are at stake in 10 sports during the Games. In addition to the individual places, National Olympic Committee ‘quota’ spots have so-far been awarded in shooting, aquatics (diving, artistic swimming), archery and rugby.
Rugby sevens was making its debut appearance at the European Games with the tournament staged at the Henryk Reyman Stadium in Krakow.
Gold medallists Great Britain (women) and Ireland (men) booked their places in Paris next summer with victories over Poland and Great Britain respectively in an exciting finals session.
New sports
Away from Paris 2024 qualifying, history has also been made in beach handball, padel, muaythai and ski jumping, where the first-ever European Games champions have been crowned.
They include Austrian Jacqueline Seifriedsberger who took gold in the women’s ski jumping normal hill event at the stunning Zakopane Jumping Hills venue.
Meanwhile, Türkiye’s Sercan Koc secured the inaugural gold in Muaythai – one of six medals won by his country at Myslenice Arena, a total matched only by Ukraine, with hosts Poland following closely behind on five medals in the new combat sport.
Headline makers
Elsewhere at the Games, headlines have been made by table tennis players Yang Xiaoxin, who secured the first-ever medal for Monaco at the European Games in winning women’s singles silver, and teenage brothers Félix (17) and Alexis (19) Le Brun, who took the men’s singles gold and bronze medals respectively.
Other young medallists include previous winners of the EOC’s Piotr Nurowski Prize, which recognises the best young European athlete of the year. Four recipients are in action in Poland, including Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who took the high jump gold.
On social media, Belgium’s shot-putter-turned-hurdling star Jolien Boumkwo has achieved the biggest global buzz of the European Games so far, with the clip of her 100m hurdles race at the Silesian Stadium generating 4.2 million views on EOC channels alone.
The memorable moment, which saw the field athlete step in on behalf of her injured teammate has been heralded by commentators around the world as a great example of the values of sport.
What’s still to come
There is still plenty of European Games action to come as we head into the final four days of competition in Krakow-Malopolska.
More ‘golden tickets’ to Paris 2024 are set to be awarded in boxing and modern pentathlon, while the first kickboxing medals in European Games history will be won at the Myslenice Arena. Meanwhile, ski jumping competition continues in Zakopane, where all eyes are on the home star, triple Olympic Champion Kamil Stoch.
On the sidelines of the Games, the European Esports Championships will also take place over three days in Katowice, starting tomorrow, Friday 30 June, with 27 nations represented and competitions including Rocket League and eFootball 2023. Fans can follow all the action live at eoctv.org
