Luiza Gega made history in 2016 as Albania’s first ever medallist at a European Athletics Championships, then in 2022 at 34-years-old that she finally took the nation’s first ever gold.
In the lead-up to Birmingham 2026 from 10-16 August, we are taking a look back at 26 magical moments from the European Athletics Championships, including Gega’s historic gold in the 3000m steeplechase in 2022.
The background
As one of Europe’s smaller countries Albania, prior to 2016, had never taken a medal at a European Athletics Championships, in fact, historically they very rarely even sent a team.
In 2010, they entered two athletes, Klodiana Shala in the women’s 200m, and Admir Bregu in the men’s long jump. However Shala didn’t even race in the heats an Bregu failed to measure a mark.
Then in 2010, Albania sent a team of three athletes, which included Gega for the first time, a large team for the small nation. Gega placed 13th in the heats of the 1500m, while Adriatik Hoxha and Dorian Collaku placed 24th and 30th in the men’s shot put and hammer respectively.
Though in 2014 Gega placed sixth at the world indoor championships over 1500m and won the European Athletics Team Championships Third Division. But at the European championships she only managed to place ninth in her heat.
What happened?
The athletes took to the track for the final event of day six, shoulder to shoulder as the packed stadium watched on.
Gega, the smallest of the field, shot out at the sound of the gun to take the lead as the pack followed closely behind.
As each lap passed, Gega stayed calm and in control as she slowly stretched the rest of the field out behind her.
Great Britian’s Elizabeth Bird though stayed stuck to her shoulder until she started to fade as they passed seven minutes on the clock, also allowing Germany’s Lea Myer to catch the Briton.
But on the final lap Gega found a surge of energy and pulled away to a more than 20 metre lead as she soared down the home straight.
The finish line was in sight, the crowd carrying her over with a roar to a championship record of 9:11.31.
Overcome with emotion Gega collapsed to her knees, soaking in the moment before rising again to wrap herself in the Albanian flag.
Myer set a new PB and crossed for second in 9:15.35, while Bird followed behind for third in 9:23.18 to complete the podium.
The aftermath
“My life is not easy,” she said the following year. “All the time I train alone.
“I stay far from home, my friends, my family. We don’t have a group so mentally it’s hard. When I have free time, I have no friends to eat or drink something. My best friend is my phone. For this (reason) I feel tired, and sometimes I feel I should stop, to have a life.
“But until 19 I was not a good athlete, I just ran for fun,” she says. “When I got to university I said, ‘Okay, now I have to think: do I want to focus more on university or this?
“I was behind all the girls and said to my coach, ‘I’ll never come to run like this again’. I represent myself, but also the colours of my country, so I wanted to be with the group. From 2011 I started training hard.
“People asked me, ‘Why did you cry [after winning European gold]?’ But not everybody knows how hard it was for many years. Most of them said, ‘I cried with you in that moment,’ because they felt so much (pride).”
“It was a long, hard road to that point. I started from nothing. We are not like the big countries. They have idols, great athletes to follow. I follow only myself to try to get better.”
In 2023, Gega took the win at the European Athletics Team Championships over 5000m and 3000m steeplechase to become the joint most successful athlete in the history of the team championships.
That same year she also went on to finish seventh at the world championships in Budapest in 9:10.27.
Then in 2024 she placed fifth at the European championships in 9:22.92 before competing in her third Olympics and placing ninth in her heat.