On the road to the Madrid 2025 European Athletics Team Championships from 27-29 June, we put the spotlight on newly-promoted Lithuania who will be making their first ever appearance in the top flight of this biennial event in the Vallehermoso Stadium in the Spanish capital.
Flashback to 2023
Lithuania sealed the third promotion spot in the 2nd Division of the European Athletics Team Championships in Silesia by the narrowest of margins, finishing a mere 0.5 points ahead of Slovenia in fourth, proving the age-old adage that every point counts is certainly true.
Lithuania only notched up one victory in Silesia 2023 but they were rewarded for their consistency across the three days, accumulating 11 top-three finishes which resulted in a top three finish.
Their sole victory came courtesy of javelin thrower Edis Matusevicius who landed a timely season’s best of 84.22m on the last day to bolster their promotion cause.
Track record
Lithuania have traditionally been one of the yo-yo teams of the European Athletics Team Championships, with numberous promotions and relegations to their name. But with less than 3 million population, they frequently out-perform larger nations.
- Banska Bystrica 2009, Slovakia, Second League (1st place)
The Baltic nation won the first iteration of the 2nd Division to gain promotion into the 1st Division - the Super League was the top division between 2009-2021 - thanks to 10 individual victories, including a win by 2004 Olympic heptathlon silver medallist Austra Skujyte in the shot put.
- Budapest 2010, Hungary, First League (12th place)
But Lithuania had the ignominy of finishing rock bottom in the 1st Division one year later and were immediately relegated back into the third tier of the European Athletics Team Championships, a pattern which was to repeat over the ensuing decade.
- Silesia 2021, Poland, Second League (4th place)
As recently as 2021, Lithuania were still languishing in the third-tier, finishing fourth overall and some 30 points adrift of promotion in 2021. However, six individual victories across the programme did provide a small glimpse of what was to follow two years later in Silesia.
Five to watch…
- Mykolas Alekna (men's discus)
At 19, Alekna became the youngest ever European discus champion in Munich 2022 and he has gone on to achieve yet more firsts in the discipline. Alekna broke Jurgen Schult’s long-standing world record with 74.35m in Ramona last year before becoming the first male athlete to break the 75 metre-barrier this year with 75.56m at the same Oklahoma venue.
- Edis Matusevicius (men's javelin)
Matusevicius was the hero for the Lithuanian team two years ago, taking maximum points in the javelin with 84.22m for their only individual victory. Across the three divisions, Matusevicius’ winning distance was only surpassed by Germany’s Julian Weber who won the 1st Division with 86.26m.
- Gabija Galvydyte (women's 800m, 1500m)
Galvydyte began her career as a 400m hurdler but the US-based Lithuanian has moved through the distances and has found her niche in the middle distances. The 25-year-old contributed a healthy sum of points to her team’s promotion cause in Silesia 2023, finishing fourth in the 800m and third in the 1500m in since-improved lifetime bests of 2:00.29 and 4:09.48 respectively.
- Beatrice Juskeviciute (women's 100m hurdles)
Primarily a combined eventer, Juskeviciute could play an individual role for her country in Madrid. Her best event is the 100m hurdles in which she holds the Lithuanian record with a speedy 12.87.
- Greta Karinauskaite (3000m steeplechase)
Karinauskaite was one of her country’s standout individual performers in Silesia two years ago, finishing second in the 3000m steeplechase before winning silver in the same distance at the European Athletics U23 Championships.
Steven Mills for European Athletics