The European Olympic Committees (EOC) is pleased to announce the first three sports that have been officially confirmed from the previously announced provisional list of sports, that will make up a comprehensive and varied sports programme, including a number of Olympic Sports, for the European Games Kraków-Małopolska 2023.
Canoe, Taekwondo and Modern Pentathlon have been officially included for the third edition of the Games, considered a major stepping stone for Europe’s best athletes en route to the following year’s Olympic Games, in this case Paris 2024.
“We are delighted that the first three sports to be officially added to Kraków-Małopolska will also be at the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris,” said chair of the EOC Coordination Commission for the 2023 European Games Hasan Arat (TUR). “Their inclusion on the programme will offer valuable Olympic qualification opportunities for our European athletes.”
Commenting on the individual sports, EOC Sports Director Peter Brüll highlighted the key benefits of inclusion at the European Games. “Canoe Slalom as well as Modern Pentathlon will make their debuts at the European Games and both sports will act as European Championship events offering qualification opportunities for Paris.”
It will be the second appearance at the Games for Taekwondo, which featured as part of the sports programme in Baku 2015, and will offer the highest number of ranking points for aspiring Olympians at any continental event.
Jozef Liba (SVK), one of two deputy chairs on the EOC’s Coordination Commission, has been tasked with the responsibility of negotiating with the Federations for the make-up of the sports programme.
“We know that it has been a difficult year for federations, and we are very pleased with the discussions and the interest that we have had from sports looking to be a part of the programme in 2023,” Liba said. “It shows the great value that these Games have, and we are looking forward to continued discussions with a number of other federations and announcing more sports for Kraków-Małopolska in the coming weeks.”
Ongoing negotiations continue with the European Federations that have already signed MoUs as well as the others on the provisional sports programme, and all agreements are expected to be finalised by the end of the year.
