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Türkiye will send 50 athletes to the European Athletics Championships, to be held in Birmingham, England, on Aug. 10-16, marking the highest number of athletes the country has ever sent to the event.
According to the Turkish Athletics Federation, the national team will compete with a total of 50 athletes, comprising 31 men and 19 women, breaking the previous record of 46 athletes set in 2016.
Türkiye first competed at the European Athletics Championships in 1950, four years after the event was first launched in 1934, and has taken part in every edition since, except 1974.
Turkish participation has grown steadily over the decades, rising from 10 athletes in 1950 to 21 in 2010, then jumping to 41 in 2012 as the team's presence at the championships expanded. Numbers have remained above 30 in most editions since, reaching 44 in 2024 ahead of this year's record delegation.
Türkiye has won 33 medals in the history of the European Athletics Championships: 12 gold, 10 silver, and 11 bronze.
Middle- and long-distance running has been the country's strongest discipline, led by Yasemin Can, who won four golds between 2016 and 2022 across the 5,000m and 10,000m, and Polat Kemboi Arikan, who twice won the 10,000m, in 2012 and 2016.
Other gold medalists include Sureyya Ayhan in the 1,500m (2002), Nevin Yanit in the 100m hurdles (2010), Elvan Abeylegesse in the 5,000m and 10,000m (2010), Gulcan Mingir in the 3,000m steeplechase (2012), Yasmani Copello Escobar in the 400m hurdles (2016), and Ramil Guliyev in the 200m (2018).
Guliyev also added a silver in the 200m in 2016, part of a wider haul of silver medals that included performances from Tarik Langat Akdag, Jak Ali Harvey, Aras Kaya, Ali Kaya, and Kaan Kigen Ozbilen, along with a men's 4x100m relay medal in 2018.
Yasemin Can and Tugba Danismaz added further silvers in 2022 and 2024, respectively.
Türkiye's bronze medals span multiple decades, starting with Ruhi Sarialp's triple jump bronze in 1950, the country's first-ever medal at the championships. More recent bronze medalists include Elvan Abeylegesse, Ali Kaya, Ozlem Kaya, Jak Ali Harvey, Yasemin Can, Yasmani Copello Escobar, and pole vaulter Ersu Sasma, whose 2024 medal was among the team's most recent podium finishes.
A women's half marathon team also won bronze in 2016.
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