In 1928, the women’s 800m was banned from the Olympic Games for 32 years, after it was deemed ‘too dangerous’.
In 1954, Diane Leather competed in an 800m race, and later that afternoon became the first woman to break the 5-minute mile barrier—a feat widely believed to be biologically impossible for women. Now, over thousands of women have surpassed it, with the current record at 4:12.33, held by Sifan Hassan.
In 1950, a woman on the track was an anomaly. Today, she’s a force of nature. As we celebrate International Women’s Day European athletics stands as a testament to how far women have sprinted, jumped, and thrown their way into history—and the barriers they’ve demolished along the way.
Track and field was a man’s world back in the 1930s, when women were first included at the European Championships. Women were limited to just nine events: sprints, jumps and throws—nothing beyond 200m. The following decade, competitors such as Fanny Blankers-Koen, a Dutch mother of two, were ruthlessly criticised for competing in sports whilst raising a family.
“I received many letters from people who thought it was wrong for me to compete. They said I should be home caring for my children instead of running races.” Even after winning four golds at the 1948 Olympics she was still ridiculed. “There was criticism about me leaving my children. But I took them with me [to the Olympics]. I wanted to show that a mother could achieve something extraordinary.”
The barriers weren’t just cultural. Diane Leather wasn’t allowed to race the 1500m at the Olympics—the event didn’t exist for women until 1972. “It was a sad thing that the mile wasn’t ratified as a world record, and there wasn’t any event longer than 200m at the Olympics back then,” she said. Even attire was weaponized: skirts were mandatory, and critics claimed trousers would ‘damage fertility’.
By the 1960s, women were gaining more access to proper training facilities and opportunities, and in the 70s there was a new generation of women in athletics, stronger and more determined than ever before. Irena Szewińska of Poland, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, became the first woman to hold world records in the 100m, 200m, and 400m—all while raising a son.
Then came Fatima Whitbread of Great Britain, who transformed the javelin throw into a symbol of female power. In 1986, she broke the world record with a throw of 77.44m, shutting down critics who claimed women lacked the strength for technical field events. “People underestimated me because I was a woman in a strength-based sport. I wanted to prove that we belong here.”
Every year women in sport become better and bolder. Nafissatou Thiam, a two-time Olympic heptathlon champion, transcends specialisation. With a 7,013-point PB, she throws, jumps and sprints past rivals, proving women excel in versatility.
Malaika Mihambo, a two-time world long jump champion and Olympic gold medalist, leaps beyond 7 metres with unmatched consistency. Off the track, she merges athletic prowess with advocacy, championing sustainability and gender equity.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine, the reigning world high jump champion, has turned adversity into triumph. Amid Russia’s invasion of her homeland, she cleared 2.06m in 2023—the third-highest jump in history—claiming her first world title and symbolizing unbreakable resolve.
And women are taking more and more prominent roles off the track and field too. The European indoor best for women’s high jump stands at 2.08m to Sweden's Kajsa Bergqvist from 2006, while the championship record is 2.05m to Belgium's Tia Hellebaut from 2007.
The latter will, coincidently, be watching from the sidelines in Apeldoorn in her role as a European Athletics Council member, while the former will also be in the Dutch city in her role as head coach of the Swedish team.
The athletes of today do not carry all the trials of their predecessors, but have inherited all the strength and power, and they continue to inspire the next generation. For example, in the UK, girls’ participation in athletics rose by around 20% between 2012–2022, driven by role models like Jessica Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, and Germany’s “Leichtathletik für Mädchen” programme increased female youth enrolment by at least 18 per cent (2015–2020).
Now women are finding more inclusion. In fact at the Istanbul 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships, female participation surpassed male participation for the first time, with 278 female athletes from 45 countries compared to 274 male athletes from 44 countries.
Since 2018, the European Athletucs Championships has awarded equal prize money to both men and women. However, we still have a long way to go. According to an IAAF 2019 report, outside major championships women earn 40 per cent less than men in track and field.
The path forward demands more than medals. It requires investing in programmes like France’s “Athlé pour Elles”, which mentors girls from marginalised communities, and normalising motherhood in sport by offering childcare at competitions, as Norway’s federation does.
It means amplifying voices through groups like the Women’s Sport Trust, which battles for equal airtime. As Dina Asher-Smith said: “Every time we step on to the track, we’re pushing for progress. It’s not just about medals—it’s about showing the next generation what’s possible.”
Alissa Szreter-Kelly for European Athletics