Dobromir Karamarinov is set to become President of European Athletics on a permanent basis ©Getty Images

Dobromir Karamarinov is set to become President of European Athletics on a permanent basis after being confirmed as the only candidate to succeed the late Svein Arne Hansen at the organisation's Congress in October.

The Bulgarian has been Interim President since Hansen suffered a stroke in March 2020, which left the latter unable to perform the duties of his position.

Norwegian Hansen, elected for a second term as head of the continental governing body in April 2019, died in Oslo at the age of 74 in June of last year.

Karamarinov will complete the remainder of Hansen's term as European Athletics President, set to expire in April 2023, when he is formally elected at the Congress in Lausanne on October 14.

The 63-year-old, a member of the World Athletics Council who has been first vice-president of European Athletics since 2015, is the sole official standing for President at the meeting.

Karamarinov, also the head of the Association of the Balkan Athletic Federations, will be just the sixth President of European Athletics.

His election to the Presidency frees up the first vice-president position, which will be contested by three candidates - Estonia's Erich Teigamägi, Frenchman Jean Gracia and Márton Gyulai of Hungary.

Teigamägi has been the head of the Estonian Athletics Federation for more than 15 years and also serves as vice-president of the Estonian Olympic Committee.

Gracia, a vice-president of the French Athletics Federation, was entrusted with the role of interim chief executive at the International Association of Athletics Federations in 2016 after the global body was hit by a corruption scandal.

Gyulai, a former bobsledder who competed at two Winter Olympic Games, became the youngest member of the European Athletics Council when he was elected at the same meeting where Hansen secured the Presidency in 2015.

There will be a second European Athletics Council vacancy open for election at the Congress - in addition to the one created following the death of Frank Hensel - as all three vice-presidential candidates are existing members of the ruling body.

Germany's Juergen Kessing, Frank Carreras of Gibraltar, Henryk Olszewski of Poland and Portugal's Luis Figueiredo are the four officials in the running for the two available places on the Council.