Wirz, whose Federation was one of five last month announcing involvement in the new European Sports Championship event being jointly staged by Glasgow and Berlin in 2018, would not confirm that his sport would be involved in the next staging of the European Games.

The event is due to take place for the first time in Baku this summer between June 12 and 28.

This summer's European Games clash with the European Team Championships Super League in Cheboksary, Russia.

But European Athletics is running the Third League of the Championships - which is not part of its television contract with the European Broadcasting Union - in Baku, which will mean the home crowd will be able to watch their own athletes in action.

Patrick Hickey, President of the European Olympic Committees, claims he has held positive discussions with European Athletics about the sport featuring fully at the next edition of the European Games in 2019.

The newly-constructed National Stadium in Baku will host only the Third League of the European Team Athletics event during the European Games ©President of Azerbaijan

"I cannot say yes and I cannot say no," Wirz, a 71-year-old former Swiss athlete, told insidethegames.

"When you have athletics at a championship it should always be advancing the situation for the sport, bringing additional value.

"There needs to be consistency.

"At the moment we don't have a clear picture of how things are going to be in the future, and how the European Games will sit in the calendar.

"In 2019, the IAAF Championships will be in Doha, later in the year, so there will be some space in the summer months.

"But when there is a World Championship earlier in the year, it's another problem.

"So it's difficult to say, 'Yes'."

Read the full interview with Wirz in the Big Read here. 

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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