France has selected a team of 80 athletes for the Birmingham 2026 European Athletics Championships from 10-16 August.
The team is pronged by reigning European champions Gabriel Tual (800m), Alexis Miellet and Alice Finot (3000m steeplechase) along with reigning world 10,000m champion Jimmy Gressier who is due to contest the 5000m and 10,000m in Birmingham.
However, 2024 European 100m hurdles champion Cyrena Samba-Mayela has announced she won’t be defending her title in Birmingham due to recurring injuries.
The French team also includes newly crowned French champion and French 400m record-holder Samuel Vessat who ran a breakthrough 44.24 at the French Championships to move to fourth on the European all-time list. This will be Vessat’s first appearance in a major championships.
Other notable selections include reigning European indoor champion Agathe Guillemot in the women’s 1500m, European silver medallist Louise Maraval in the women’s 400m hurdles and European bronze medallist Makenson Gletty in the decathlon.
Now 47, Melina Robert-Michon will also be making her ninth appearance at the European Athletics Championships in the discus. Robert-Michon won silver in 2014 and was seventh two years ago in Rome.
France finished second on the medal table at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome with four gold medals and 16 in total.
The full French team can be found here.