The European Athletics Team Championships 3rd Division kicks off in Maribor, Slovenia in one month today on 24 June.
The 3rd and 2nd Division both take place in Maribor while the first 1st Division will be held in Madrid, Spain from 27-29 June when Italy will be looking to retain their overall title.
But for teams competing in the 3rd Division, the objective will be to secure one of the three promotion spots into the 2nd Division of the biennial competition which began in 2009, replacing the previous European Cup.
We shine a light on some of the individual stars who could take maximum points for their respective countries in Maribor next month.
Patrizia Van der Weken (Luxembourg)
It has already been a year of historic firsts for sprinter Patrizia Van der Weken who will be looking to do her bit to bring Luxembourg back into the 2nd Division of the European Athletics Team Championships next month.
Van der Weken won her country’s first ever European indoor medal with bronze in the 60m in Apeldoorn 2025 before replicating this feat on the global stage, taking another bronze at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing.
And by the time we reach the European Athletics Team Championships, it is by no means inconceivable that Van der Weken could have taken her national 100m record under the 11 second-barrier, one of her stated aspirations.
“I just have to be patient and keep working, keep competing and then maybe the 10 seconds will show up sooner or later,” said Van der Weken in an exclusive interview with European Athletics earlier this year.
Van der Weken currently holds the record with 11.00 which was set in the semifinals of the European Athletics Championships in Rome where she finished fourth in the final, missing out on a medal by an agonising 0.01.
Luiza Gega (Albania)
Luiza Gega has been close to a one-woman team for Albania at the European Athletics Team Championships for over a decade.
Gega, who holds every Albanian record between 800m and the marathon, won maximum points for Albania in both the 3000m steeplechase and 5000m in 2023. In doing so, she took her number of individual victories at the European Athletics Team Championships up to 11, matching the record held by Bulgarian sprinter Ivet Lalova-Collio.
Another individual victory for Gega - whose time of 9:17.73 in the 3000m steeplechase in 2023 was not just the fastest across all three divisions but also a championship record - in Maribor next month would see the Albanian trailblazer hold the record for most wins outright.
Marija Vukovic (Montenegro)
Marija Vukovic is one of a select group of athletes who competed in the first iteration of the European Athletics Team Championships back in 2009 who looks set to compete again in the 2025 edition.
Now 33, Vukovic is still jumping at a high level and with a season’s best of 1.90m in the high jump, the 2022 European silver medallist - Montenegro’s first and only medal as an independent nation at the European Athletics Championships - is honing in on maximum points for her country once again.
Amel Tuka (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
A two-time world outdoor medallist in the 800m, Amel Tuka can lay a very credible claim to being his country’s greatest athlete.
Now 35, Tuka’s lifetime best of 1:42.51 - which still ranks him inside the European all-time top-10 at the distance - dates back to 2015 but he is still regarded as an excellent tactician and kicked to victory in the 800m in the 3rd Division in Silesia 2023.
Nahuel Carabana (Andorra)
Multiple Andorran record-holder Nahuel Carabana has won plaudits for both his performances as well as his sportsmanship at major European events.
His bronze medal in the 3000m steeplechase at the 2021 European Athletics U23 Championships was Andorra’s first ever medal in any major European event. One year later, he was presented with the Fair Play Award at the Golden Tracks award ceremony after stopping to help a rival who had fallen in his heat at the European Athletics Championships.
Last year, Carabana finished a creditable seventh in the 2024 European Athletics Championships and even had the honour of carrying his country’s flag at the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Andreas Trajkovski (Republic of North Macedonia)
Andreas Trajkovski landed a timely season’s best of 7.85m to make it through to the long jump final at the European Athletics Indoor Championships to become the first North Macedonian to make a European indoor final in any event.
But Trajkovski is also renowned for his off-track exploits. He is the founder of the popular Jumper’s World Instagram channel which has accumulated over 600,000 followers and counting.
Trajkovski won maximum points in the long jump in Silesia two years ago and embracing the spirit of the competition, he also competed in both the 100m and 4x100m relay in the 3rd Division in Silesia two years ago, finishing fifth in both events.
Alexandra Emilianov (Moldova)
A precocious teenager with world and European U18 and U20 discus titles to her name, Alexandra Emilianov enjoyed her best season to date as a senior last year. She reached the final at both the European Athletics Championships and Olympic Games as well as breaking the 60 metre-barrier in nine of her 11 competitions.
In her last appearance at the European Athletics Team Championships in 2021, the US-based Emilianov won maximum points for Moldova in the 3rd Division in not just the discus but also in the shot put, contributing a hefty 32 points to Moldova’s overall total.