Communication with Teams

Technical Information Centre (TIC)

The TIC is located at the Congress Centre, next to the competition venue (see appendices).

The main function of the centre is to ensure a smooth liaison between each Team Delegation, the Local Organising Committee, European Athletics Technical Delegates and the Competition Management of the Championships regarding technical matters.

The TIC will be open according to the following schedule:

Dates Opening hours
Thursday, 13 May 202112:00 – 20:00
Friday, 14 May 202110:00 – 20:00
Saturday, 15 May 202108:00 – 20:00
Sunday, 16 May 202107:00 – 20:00

The TIC is responsible for, but not limited to, the following:

  • Display on the relevant notice board of official communications to the teams, including start lists, results and Call Room reporting times
  • Distribution of urgent notices to the delegations from the Technical Delegates and competition management
  • Settlement of technical enquiries from delegations
  • Distribution of items confiscated at the Call Room
  • Managing additional doping control requests (national record …)
  • Protests and written appeals

The distribution of competition related information and important notices of general interest (e.g. changes to the timetable) at the TIC will NOT be systematically made through printouts in the Team pigeonholes but will be displayed on the notice boards. It will still be possible to request occasional copies of specific event start lists and / or results at the TIC.

Please note that due to the Covid-19 situation access to the TIC will be limited and controlled with a special TIC pass distributed during the accreditation procedure.

All competition related information will be also sent by emails or WhatsApp messages to the team leaders to the email addresses and mobile numbers communicated in the final entries. Any relevant additional email addresses can be communicated to the TIC ([email protected]) prior to the start of the Championships. When the Team Leaders are collecting the team accreditation cards and bibs they will be asked to confirm the e-mail addresses.

Individual communications to specific teams will be nevertheless also posted through the pigeonholes.

Virtual TIC

Team Leaders will also be provided with an individual and personalised access to European Athletics online tool, where they will be able to

  • make their final confirmations,
  • download information posted by the LOC / European Athletics (technical information, call room schedule, etc…)
  • fill-in competition forms (question for Technical Briefing, technical enquiries to TIC, withdrawal forms …)

The platform will be accessible at a link to be communicated to the Teams at a later stage, together with a detailed user manual.

Orientation visit and technical briefing

There will be a visit organised to the competition venue on Saturday, 15 May 2021 at 11:00, in order for the team leaders to inspect access routes and other facilities which will be important to the teams. Team leaders are to meet LOC members at the Call Room, from where they will be escorted to this visit. The inspection will be held in English. This competition venue inspection will be followed by a technical briefing, which will take place in the Call Room.

Due to sanitary restrictions each team may be represented by maximum one official and, if necessary, an interpreter.  It is very important that all teams are represented at the orientation visit and the technical briefing.

The Technical Briefing will provide updates and information which is not already mentioned in this team manual and will includes:

  • Information about members of Jury of appeal
  • Timetable amendments (if any)
  • Answers to written questions (if any)

Any enquiries concerning the technical conduct of the Championships must be made in writing (in English). These questions will be answered at the Technical Briefing.

The forms on which the questions must be written shall be returned to the TIC, or filled-in online on the final confirmation platform, no later than Saturday, 15 May at 14:00.

There will be no dedicated transport provided for this activity and Team delegates are kindly requested to walk to the meeting point from the team hotel.

Team Leaders’ WhatsApp group

A WhatsApp group including all member federations’ team leaders will be created on site, in order to offer an additional platform to address instant messages and announcements. Major information of interest for all will be communicated to the teams by the TIC/European Athletics via this group.

Course and Competition Facilities

The Course

The 1 km long course (closed to pedestrians and traffic) is located in the city park at the colonnade and goes along asphalt roads. The detailed plan of the course can be found in Appendices.

Start/Finish Area

The start and finish line of the events will be at the city park at the colonnade.
As team hotels are located nearby the competition venue, no dedicated team tents will be provided near the start/finish area.
After the race, and having passed the mixed zone (where they will also return the transponders) athletes will receive the their personal clothing left in the Call Room.

Refreshment and drinking stations

There will be one Personal Refreshments Station and one Drinking Station. Both will be on the right-hand side. One mist station will also be available along the course as well as temporary toilets.

Personal Refreshment Station

According to the number of athletes competing by country, each team will have its own table or share a table with other teams, which will be marked with the national flag and the country code. The tables will be arranged in alphabetical order (by country code).
A maximum of two representatives from each Member Federation (third card on request for the teams with 4 athletes) will be allowed at the tables and appropriate special passes will be provided for the purpose of controlling access – these will be distributing during the accreditation process.
Member Federations will be responsible for bringing refreshments to their tables. If an athlete has no official able to assist him/her, the LOC will ensure that the refreshment is placed on the athlete’s table. Athletes concerned must hand in their personal refreshments, adequately marked (athlete’s name, bib number, country code, km mark at which the refreshment is to be placed) at the TIC at least 1 hour before the start of the race.
The LOC will provide bottles and labels for those athletes that need them which will be distributed through the TIC.

Drinking station

At the Drinking Station the athletes pick up their water by themselves.

Please note that due to the Covid-19 situation no sponging station will be installed along the course.

Training & Warm-up

UPDATE: Due to Covid-19 situation training is only allowed in at the competition venue which will be accessible on Thursday, 14 May between 15:00-19:00 and on Saturday, 15 May between 10:00-14:30 and 17:00-19:00. On the day of the Championships a dedicated area in the courtyard of the nearby Gymnasium will be reserved for the athletes to do their warm-up between 07:00-17:00.

Note: Training and warming-up in public areas may result in a series of penalties imposed on the respective Member Federation and team members, including but not limited to a financial penalty, revocation of the accreditation and considering the results achieved by the athletes in question as void.

Entries and Final Confirmations

Entry Rules

In accordance with European Athletics regulations, all participants must comply with eligibility qualifications for Area Games or Championships as set out in the World Athletics Rules.

No athlete may compete in the European Race Walking Team Championships 2021 unless entered by a European Athletics Member Federation.

Subject to the exceptions stated below

  • only athletes aged at least 18 (eighteen) years on the day of the final entries (6 May 2021) and not more than 19 (nineteen) years on 31 December of the year of the competition may participate in the 10 km (U20 Men and U20 Women).
  • only athletes aged at least 18 (eighteen) years on the day of the final entries (6 May 2021) may participate in the 20 km (Senior Men and Senior Women)
  • only athletes aged at least 20 (twenty) years on 31 December of the year of the competition may participate in the 50 km (Senior Men) and 35 km (Senior Women)

Competitors must be able to present, if requested to do so by the Technical Delegates, an official document stating their birth date.

“I Run Clean” Certification

Each European Athletics Member Federation may enter only those athletes who have received and hold a valid certification for having completed European Athletics Anti-Doping Education Programme – I Run Clean. The certification is to be achieved by all athletes in addition to fulfilling any requirements for the qualification for the event they are entered in.

Entry Procedures

Each European Athletics Member may enter a maximum of 6 (six) athletes in each senior race, of which a maximum of 4 (four) walkers may participate and a maximum of 5 athletes in each U20 event of which a maximum of 3 (three) may compete.

The European Athletics Entries System will be accessible at the following link: https://evententry.worldathletics.org. Member Federations’ entries manager shall use their individual and personalised access.

Final Entries

Final entries indicating the names and individual logistical information (detailed travel arrangements, accommodation request and rooming list) of the competitors and of the officials must be received not later than 10 (ten) days before the event. According to the regulations the deadlines for the final entries are:

  • Opening of the final entries:                 Tuesday, 20 April 2021
  • Deadline for the final entries:                Thursday, 6 May 2021 14:00 (CET)

All member Federations will be able to consult and print out their entries at any time during the opening period and will receive a pdf report with a status of their entries 24h before the deadline as well as one pdf confirmation after the closing of the system.

Detailed travel and rooming list information will have to be registered for each athlete and official during the final entries process. 

Final Confirmations

Team Leaders or their representatives must confirm the names of those competitors already entered who will actually take part in the competition using European Athletics online tool latest by Saturday 15 May 2021 14:00. Confirmation of athletes will not be accepted after the deadline.