By Duncan Mackay

European Athletics logoMay 4 - Samokov in Bulgaria, Tallinn in Estonia and Eskilstuna in Sweden have all been chosen to host European Athletics events at the organisation's Council meeting in Berlin today.


Samokov, situated between the Rila and Vitosha mountains, 55 kilometres from the Bulgarian capital Sofia, will host the 2014 SPAR European Cross Country Championships, which is set to take place in December that year.

Tallinn will host the 2015 European Athletics Under-23 Championships, while Eskilstuna will stage that year's European Athletics Junior Championships.

They were the only bidders for each event. 

"We are very pleased to award the 2014 SPAR European Cross Country Championships to Samokov," said Hansjörg Wirz, President of European Athletics.

SamokovBulgarian city Samokov, which is situated between the Rila and Vitosha mountains, will provide a stunning backdrop for the 2014 SPAR European Cross Country Championships

"Bulgaria has shown its commitment to hosting European Athletics events and has a good strategy in place to grow athletics in the country through such competitions.

"We saw today in their presentation that the 2014 SPAR European Cross Country Championships will take place with a beautiful backdrop of the surrounding areas of Samokov.

The European Under-23 Championships in 2015 will be the 10th edition of the event and the first time it will be held in Estonia.

"Estonia has shown itself as being able to organise top-level European Athletics events before, as we saw with the excellent European Athletics Junior Championships in 2011, while they will also host the 2013 European Athletics Convention in October this year," said Wirz.

"We have been assured by the presentation made today that this important event in 2015 will be organised to the high level that we have come to expect."

Eskilstuna in Sweden will host the 2015 European Athletics Junior Championships.

It will be the 23rd edition of the event and the first time it will be held in Sweden.

"We have been assured by the presentation made today that this important event will be organised to the high level that we have come to expect from Sweden," said Wirz.

"The country has hosted the European Athletics Championships and, more recently, the European Athletics Indoor Championships, and we are pleased they will now host another major European Athletics event in 2015."

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