Harry Poole
BBC Sport journalist
Published
Katarina Johnson-Thompson will renew her rivalry with Olympic heptathlon champion Nafi Thiam at the European Athletics Championships in Rome before their anticipated battle for gold at Paris 2024.
Johnson-Thompson, 31, will aim for a first Olympic medal in Paris this summer, 12 months after the Briton was crowned world champion for the second time in Budapest.
Belgium's Thiam, absent from last year's World Championships with injury, is seeking a third successive European title - before aiming for another hat-trick at the Olympics following successes in Rio and Tokyo.
"It's a title I haven't won, it's a title I would like to have. But as a heptathlete, I know so much can go right, so much can go wrong, so much can happen," Johnson-Thompson told European Athletics., external
"I’m feeling really motivated, probably more motivated than ever coming off the back of last year. Now I just want to put out a good performance."
Great Britain have named a strong squad which also includes Olympic and world 800m silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson, world indoor pole vault champion Molly Caudery and former world 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith.
Live coverage of the six-day championships from 7-12 June will be shown on BBC Red Button, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.
Here is everything you need to know about Roma 2024.
GB Olympic hopefuls continue Paris preparations
When Johnson-Thompson beat American Anna Hall to world gold last summer it completed a remarkable turnaround in her career, with her first global triumph in 2019 preceding a career-threatening Achilles rupture and further injury heartbreak at the Tokyo Olympics.
Thiam, runner-up to Johnson-Thompson in 2019 before winning her second world title in 2022, broke the world pentathlon record last year but was forced to miss Budapest with an Achilles tendon issue.
In Rome Johnson-Thompson will contest her first heptathlon since last August, while Thiam has not completed a heptathlon since defending her European title in Munich almost two years ago, as the pair meet two months before the Olympics.
British team-mate Hodgkinson, 22, has come agonisingly close to global gold on three occasions in a stunning start to her senior career and will be the strong favourite to defend the European 800m title she won in Munich two years ago.
Meanwhile, rising star Caudery, 24, seeks to build on her breakthrough triumph at the world indoors by clinching her first major outdoor title.
Asher-Smith, the 2019 world 200m champion, contests the women's 100m - two years after her European title defence was ruined by calf cramps caused by her period - and Daryll Neita, with two Diamond League wins this season, races over 200m.
Jeremiah Azu is set to line up as the fast European man this year after clocking a personal best 9.97 seconds in May, as he looks to deny Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs on home soil.
European 400m record holder Matthew Hudson-Smith and world 100m bronze medallist Zharnel Hughes were late withdrawals from the British team, while world 1500m champion Josh Kerr and European 1500m champion Laura Muir are among those who chose not compete in the lead-up to the Olympics.
European stars to watch out for in Rome
Johnson-Thompson is one of nine gold medallists from last year's World Championships present in Rome as the continents' best go head-to-head.
Following his dramatic dive across the line to claim victory at the Oslo Diamond League, 23-year-old Jakob Ingebrigtsen will aim to complete a third consecutive European golden double in the men's 1500m and 5,000m events.
Fellow Norwegian Karsten Warholm chases a third successive men's 400m hurdles crown, and two-time European outdoor champion Armand Duplantis, who broke the world record for an eighth time in April, aims for the ninth major pole vault gold of his career.
Dutch star Femke Bol looks to defend her women's 400m hurdles title, Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi and Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh both have high jump titles to defend, and Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou (men's long jump) and Sweden's Daniel Stahl (men's discus) are also in action.
Elsewhere, Italian Jacobs will hope to take another positive step as he prepares to defend his Olympic men's 100m title after running a season's best 10.03 in late May.
Croatia's Sandra Elkasevic could make history by winning a record seventh successive European discus title.
How to watch European Championships on the BBC
BBC Sport's new multi-year deal to broadcast the European Athletics Championships begins with this month's event in Rome from 7-12 June.
Full coverage details and key timings (all times BST):
Friday, 7 June
08:30-14:00 - Red Button, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website & App
17:30-22:00 - Red Button, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website & App
Key events: Heptathlon - day one; 4x400m mixed relay final (21:20); women's 5,000m final (21:40)
Saturday, 8 June
09:00-11:30 - Red Button, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website & App
17:00-22:00 - Red Button, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website & App
Key events: Heptathlon - day two; men's 100m semi-finals (20:10) and final (21:50)
Sunday, 9 June
19:00-22:00 - Red Button, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website & App
Key events: Women's 100m semi-finals (20:05) and final (21:50); men's 800m final (21:27); women's 1500m final (21:36)
Monday, 10 June
18:00-22:00 - Red Button, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website & App
Key events: Women's pole vault final (19:15); men's 400m final (20:40); women's 400m final (20:50); men's 200m final (21:50)
Tuesday, 11 June
18:00-22:00 - Red Button, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website & App
Key events: Men's 400m hurdles final (20:05); women's 400m hurdles final (20:15); women's 200m final (21:50)
Wednesday, 12 June
19:00-22:00 - Red Button, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website & App
Key events: Men's pole vault final (19:20); 4x400m relay finals (20:05 and 20:15); women's 800m final (20:30); men's 1500m final (21:25); 4x100m relay finals (21:35 and 21:50)
Related Topics
- Athletics
