Reigning champion Belgium will be looking to win their fifth European 4x400m title since 2012 in Birmingham.
The Belgian Tornadoes won gold by a clear margin two years ago in 2:59.84 and their relay pool includes three of the four members of their winning team: Jonathan Sacoor, Robin Vanderbemden and Dylan Borlée, although 2024 European 400m champion Alexander Doom is absent through injury.
European record - Great Britain (GBR) 2:55.83
European lead - Netherlands (NED) 2:58.22
Championship record - Great Britain (GBR) 2:58.22
Roma 2024 medallists
Belgium (BEL) 2:59.84
Italy (ITA) 3:00.81
Germany (GER) 3:00.82
Five to watch
- Great Britain & NI (GBR)
- France (FRA)
- Belgium (BEL)
- Netherlands (NED)
- Portugal (POR)
However, a full-strength British team led by Matthew Hudson-Smith and Charlie Dobson will be difficult to stop at home. They both featured on Great Britain’s gold medal-winning team in Munich 2022 and were also part of the quartet which won bronze at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris in a European record of 2:55.83.
Great Britain are by far the most successful nation in the men’s 4x400m relay in European Athletics Championships with 10 titles, including five titles in a row between 1986 and 2002.
But the biggest challenge to the British team extending their dominance could come from France if their runners can translate their recent individual form to the relay.
Samuel Vessat smashed Leslie Djhone’s long-standing national record with a 44.24 clocking at the French Championships to move to fourth on the European all-time list. He was followed across the line by Muhammad Abdalla Kounta and Yann Spillmann, both of whom also broke the 45 second-barrier with lifetime bests of 44.55 and 44.92 respectively.
The Netherlands won the European indoor title on home soil in Apeldoorn last March and will be in the medal hunt on the outdoor stage again. Their team includes reigning European U23 champion Jonas Phijffers along with Liemarvin Bonevacia, Terrence Agard and Tony Van Diepen, all of whom were part of their silver medal-winning team at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The Dutch team leads the 2026 European list with 2:58.22 from the World Relays. Incidentally, this time is identical to the long-standing championship record which was set by Great Britain at the 1990 European Athletics Championships in Split.
The surprise team of the championships could be Portugal who have been making steady progress up the hierarchy in this event. Their quartet set a national record of 2:59.70 to reach the world final in Tokyo last September and finished fourth at the World Relays, improving to 2:59.01 in the heats.
The standout individual names in their quartet include national record-holder João Coelho and 19-year-old European U20 silver medallist Pedro Afonso.
The 16-country line-up also includes Italy and Germany, the silver and bronze medallists from the 2024 European Athletics Championships, as well as Poland who won gold in this event in this very city at the 2018 World Athletics Indoor Championships in a since-surpassed world indoor record of 3:01.77.