France will be selected by four athletes in the men’s marathon at the Birmingham 2026 European Athletics Championships from 10-16 August.
The line-up includes European half marathon bronze medallist Valentin Gondouin who clocked a lifetime best of 2:07:54 in the Valencia Marathon last December.
The fastest of the quartet is Emmanuel Roudolff-Levisse who ran an excellent 2:05:58 in the Paris Marathon to finish sixth in the Paris Marathon.
The line-up is completed by Felix Bour (2:06:40 PB) and the veteran of the team Hassan Chahdi (2:07:43), a medallist in the senior men’s race at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in 2011 and 2012.
Bour and Chahdi both represented France on home soil in the marathon at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Surprisingly, France hasn’t won a medal in the men’s marathon at the European Athletics Championships since Split in 1990 when Dominique Chauvelier won bronze.
However, France has enjoyed more success in the women’s marathon with Christelle Daunay winning gold in 2014 in a still-standing championship record of 2:25:14.