National Olympic Committees from across Europe have unveiled their flagbearers ahead of the European Games Krakow-Malopolska 2023 Opening Ceremony on Wednesday night.
Olympic, World and European Champions are among the athletes given the honour of leading their nations out, with hosts Poland confirming that boxer Sandra Drabik and table tennis player Jakub Dyjas will carry their flag in front of a home crowd at the Henryk Reyman Stadium. Drabik has won medals at both previous editions of the European Games and Dyjas was a silver medallist at the 2020 European Championships.
The Ukraine team is expected to receive a similarly loud welcome from the thousands of spectators in attendance and their flag will be carried by archer Anastasiia Pavlova and sprint canoeist Andrii Rybachok. It was also announced earlier this week that Cindy Winner Djankeu Ngamba and Kasra Mehdipournejad will represent the European Olympic Committees (EOC) Refugee Team, the first refugee team to compete at a continental Games.
Starting at 8.30pm CET, the ceremony will give fans the chance to watch the athletes parade through the stadium alongside performances from a variety of Polish artists, culminating in the arrival of the Flame of Peace to light the Cauldron and mark the official start of the European Games.
Full list of flagbearers in order of appearance:
Greece: Elina Tzengko (athletics)
Albania: Alvin Karaqi (Karate), Ornela Mahmutaj (Team official)
Andorra: Female: Nana Linan (taekwondo)
Armenia: Chiloyan Gayane (athletics) and Levon Aghasyan (athletics)
Austria: Sofia Polcanova (table tennis) and Lukas Weißhaidinger (athletics)
Azerbaijan: Yaylagul Ramazanova (archery) and Barat Guliyev (fencing)
Belgium: Camille Laus (athletics) and Kevin Borlee (athletics)
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ada Avdagic (taekwondo) and Nedzad Husic (taekwondo)
Bulgaria: Angel Kodinov (canoe) and Yuliya Keremidchieva (sport climbing)
Croatia: Nikolina Cacic (boxer) and Matej Nevescanin (diving)
Cyprus: Constantina Nicolaou (shooting) and Christos Achilleos (taekwondo)
Czechia: Iveta Miculycova (BMX) and Jan Kriz (sport climbing)
Denmark: Line Gyldenloeve Kristensen (beach handball) and Jonathan Groth (table tennis)
Estonia: Annika Koster (3×3 basketball) and Joosep Karlson (canoeing)
Finland: Netta Malinen (canoeing) and Antti Tekoniemi (archery)
France: Marie Mane (3×3 basketball) and Jean-Charles Valladont (archery)
Georgia: Tsiko Putkaradze (archery) and Zaza Nadiradze (canoeing)
Germany: Isabel Kattner (beach handball) and Max Rendschmidt (canoeing)
Great Britain: Abbie Brown (rugby 7s) and Joe Clarke (canoeing)
Hungary: Dora Madarasz (table tennis) and Adam Varga (canoeing)
Iceland: Marin Anita Hilmarsdottir (archery) and Ingibjörg Erla Grétarsdóttir (taekwondo)
Ireland: Sarah Lavin (athletics) and Liam Jegou (canoeing)
Israel: Lonah Chemtai Salpeter (athletics) and Joaquin Szuchman (3×3 basketball)
Italy: Odette Giuffrida (judo) and Mauro Nespoli (archery)
Kosovo: Donjeta Sadiku (boxer) and Muhamet Ramadani (athletics)
Latvia: Inese Tarvida (taekwondo) and Roberts Akmens (canoeing)
Liechtenstein: Nadina Klauser (artistic swimming) and Matthias Verling (athletics)
Lithuania: Henrikas Zustautas (canoe sprint) and Kamile Nacickaite (3×3 basketball)
Luxembourg: Lian Xia Ni (table tennis) and Flavio Giannotte (fencing)
Malta: Xiaoxin YANG (Taable Tennis) and Nicolas FEDOROFF (Padel)
Monaco: Xiaoxin Yang (table tennis) and Nicolas Federoff (padel)
Montenegro: Bojana Gojkovic (boxing), Danijel Furtula (athletics)
Netherlands: Isabel Barnard (beach handball) and Sheyi Adetunji (3×3 basketball)
Norway: Elisabeth Hammerstad (Beach Handball) and Sheyi Adetunji (3×3 basketball)
North Macedonia: Milijana Ristikj and Emil Pavlov (karate)
Portugal: Fu Yu (table tennis) and Fernando Pimenta (canoeing)
Republic of Moldova: Zalina Merghieva (athletics) and Serghei Tarnovschi (canoeing)
Romania: Bianca Florentina Ghelber (athletics) and Catalin Chirila (canoeing)
San Marino: Alessandra Perilli (shooting) and Mattias Mongiusti (table tennis)
Serbia: Milica Novakovic (canoeing) and Marko Novakovic (canoeing)
Slovakia: Barbora Balazova (Table tennis) and Miroslav Duchon (Archery)
Slovenia: Ana Tofant (table tennis) and Den Habjan Malavasic (archery)
Spain: Patricia Encinas Guardado (Beach Handball) and Carlos Arevalo Lopez (Canoe Sprint)
Sweden: Petter Menning (canoe sprint) and Linnea Stensils (canoe sprint)
Switzerland: Nikita Ducarroz (BMX) and Westher Molteni (3×3 basketball)
Türkiye: Merve Dincel (taekwondo) and Hakan Recber (taekwondo)
Ukraine: Anastasiia Pavlova (archery) and Andrii Rybachok (canoeing)
EOC Refugee Team: Cindy Winner Djankeu Ngamba (boxing) and Kasra Mehdipournejad (taekwondo)
Poland: Sandra Drabik (boxing) and Łukasz Niedzielak (beach handball)
