Awarding hosting rights for two championships and a new structure for European Athletics’ commissions will top the agenda during a landmark occasion for the sport this weekend here when President Svein Arne Hansen welcomes the Council to his home town for its first full meeting since its election in April.

European Olympic Committees (EOC) President Patrick Hickey claimed here today that two cities have expressed an interest in replacing The Netherlands as hosts of the 2019 edition of the European Games.

Brendan Foster and Sebastian Coe are among those who have welcomed the European Athletics initiative in launching a new set of guidelines for runners and organisers involved in the increasingly popular phenomenon of road races across its 50 member federations, entitled “Running for All”.

The athletics world is limbering up for an event which brought a new dimension to the sport last year, and which promises to create another colourful splash of entertainment and excitement over the weekend.

We are talking, clearly, about the World Relays, the format which so amply rewarded the International Association of Athletics Federations for creating it as a main season-opener to their calendar last year.

Svein Arne Hansen, the newly-elected President of European Athletics, has claimed he is fully supportive of the model for the 2018 European Sports Championships, which will be held in Glasgow and Berlin.

Simon Clegg, chief operating officer of Baku 2015, described new European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen’s comments regarding the prospect of athletics appearing in future European Games as a “great comfort” here today.

Svein Arne Hansen, the new European Athletics President, is starting a process of “radical changes” – one of which might be a new style of competition to represent his sport at the European Games.

Svein Arne Hansen’s first speech as European Athletics President - delivered at  the Congress in Bled where he was voted in as successor to the longstanding appointee Hansjörg Wirz - went down well, with a ripple of laughter greeting his sign-off statement:

“I said I didn’t want people just to be involved, I wanted them to be committed,” Hansen recalls. “My final line was that it was like eggs and bacon - the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed.”

At the age of 68, with just one four-year term allowed to him to make his mark, Hansen is determined to make the most of a position he sought four years ago before losing by 28 votes to 22 to the Swiss who has just relinquished his post after 16 years in office.

Svein Arne Hansen, narrowly beaten in the last European Athletics Presidential election, achieved his aim at the Congress in Bled today as he was voted in as replacement for the outgoing Hansjörg Wirz, who has been in office since 1999.

Sergey Bubka’s manifesto, launched this week ahead of his challenge for the Presidency of the International Association of Athletics Federations, features key policies including greater funding for National Federations, particularly the needier of them. 

Svein Arne Hansen, who appears a strong prospect to be voted in as the new European Athletics President this weekend in succession to 71-year-old Hansjorg Wirz, has said talks to clarify the position of his sport with the European Games would be a priority for him if he is successful in his bid.