As part of the Focus Federation Programme, European Athletics this week (25) welcomed representatives from the Luxembourg Athletics Federation to the Lausanne head office.
The delegation included President Stéphanie Empain, Director General Jean-Sébastien Dauch and Secretary General Steve Helminger.
Every year, two federations are invited to meet European Athletics Head Office staff and are briefed on all areas of European Athletics’ operations, ranging from competition structure, bidding processes, good governance, marketing strategy and initiatives such as I Run Clean and Dynamic New Athletics (DNA).
They also make a presentation to the European Athletics Council. The programme is offered to all federations that are not currently represented on the Council.
Growing Federation
Luxembourg is a developing federation that has experienced significant growth over the last three Olympic cycles.
In recent years, they have developed their internal structure, getting inspiration from their neighbouring countries and with the support of European Athletics’ programmes like the Member Federation Support Programme or the Leadership programme.
As an example, they have now a former athlete sitting on their board and another one as part of their staff who were incentivised to remain in athletics through the Future Leaders Forum.
The fruits of their labour was in evidence at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships where all five Luxembourg athletes finished in the top 20, including Patrizia Van Der Weken, fourth in the women's 100m.
Denmark are the other Federation set to benefit from this programme in 2024.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics