Dennis

Expected more from Malyshik in the women's hammer throw. Finishing 6th about 11 meters behind what she has already thrown this year when you have the 2nd best season's best result in Europe only behind Włodarczyk is disappointing.

Three failed throws for Sterckendries in women's hammer throw.

Nice to see win the women's 100m even without Dafne Schippers.

moving in to 1st place with 32 points, in 2nd with 31 points and and both in 3rd with 30 points. So it's still very close. Clear bottom 2 for now are with 14 points and with 11 points. Other two relegation spots are now for and with 21 points each.

Standings after 3/40 events: 25 25 24 21 21 20 15 13 13 12 9

We will have to want and see. Despite not being your best javelin thrower, Weber did manage to win the men’s javelin throw yesterday by quite a margin.

Thoughts after day 1: Positives: . I didn't think they would be in the running for that 7th spot, but they are. Negatives: . By far the worst performance. In the women's 100m they had the best SB out of the entire field, but finished last. On the men's side, they finished 10th in all track events, apart from the 400m hurdles. Missing out on the 100m, 400m and 110m hurdles final on the men's side all surprised me too. Podium: still the favorite for me. got a little closer though. is an obvious #3 for now. Relegation: and are the obvious bottom 2 for now. I would now say 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th. But surprised me especially in the woman's discus throw and 200m. If they keep this up, they might avoid relegation after all.

What happened to Salomé Kora? She had the fastest SB of all participants in the women's 100m, but finished last?

Some thoughts after today: Today's winners: and are the teams that did the best today. They are the clear numbers 3 and 4 for me now. Today's losers: Maybe weird to say this as they are the #1 after today, but might be my biggest disappointment of the day. Not because of the two finals which were contested today, but because of the preliminaries in all the sprint events. Maybe they saved energy for the finals? Might not be the case though as they missed 4 of them. Promotion: still the clear favorite for me to get into the Superleague next year. and met the expectations so far. However, and are getting closer. Too bad only one team gets promoted, because these four teams would have had an intense battle for three spots. Relegation: If wasn't saving energy, then and saw their chances of staying in this league increasing, with being the favorite to stay in this division for me taking today's positive results into account. also did well compared to other teams based on how close they were to their SBs, but I still don't see them finishing higher than last place. met the expectations I'd say, with a positive outlier on the women's 400m compensating for the slightly disappointing women's 200m.

A personal best from the Lithuanian on the 400m in these terrible conditions.

Disappointing time from Bonevacia in the series of the 400m. He often fails to deliver in championships.

Did Lithuania only make it through the men's 200m so far?

What happened to Agnė Šerkšnienė? That 200m was way below what I expected from her.

I'm not 100% sure how this point system works. Why do the top 4 in men's hammer throw all get 8 points? EDIT: nvm. On the website, it shows the correct points now.

Inge Jansen

These championships are in the town where I was born and lived for 23 years. It's quite exciting to see them race the streets where I grew up.

is not sending their best team at all, which makes this much more exciting. On the men's side, the teams in the top 6 are of a fairly similar level. will make the difference in the women's field events, I think, whereas has the worst team of the top 6 in these women's field events. New predictions, now based on the actual entry lists: LARGE GAP I foresee an intense battle between and for that 7th spot.

Georgia also has a pole vaulter on their women's 4x100m start list. Anyway, some predictions: Very clear bottom 3 for me, with Malta not even entering all the events according to the start lists. Numbers 5 through 9 are very close and I have no idea which two countries from those 5 will relegate.

Just looking at the entry lists. Why is Malta not represented in so many field events?

After seeing the entry lists, my predictions haven't changed much. Maybe I'd swap and for places 4 and 5 and swap and for places 8 and 9. I expect to win all relays which could help them win this division, but has some very clear favorites in the men's 1.500m, 3.000m and 5.000m and in the women's 3.000m, giving them so many guaranteed points that they could rival for the first place, especially in front of a home crowd. I think the closest events should be the men's 100m, men's 200m and women's 400m. On the other hand, some events such as the women's shot put, pole vault and discus throw have some very poor entry lists.

Is there an overview of the Lithuanian team?

Just a prediction without looking at the actual teams. I want to see how wrong this will be in the end:

Oh yeah, I definitely agree with you, but these are only 9 out of 40 events.

Just looking at the Dutch team. Not many of our top athletes will be there, so maybe I should adjust my prediction. With this team I doubt we will finish on top.

I agree with the favorites for the promotion slot. The reason I put Belgium this high is that I don't see many bottom placements for them whereas I do foresee many finished around 4th or 5th place. I just don't see them in 7th having to fear for relegation. To me, the reason I picked these bottom four are: Ireland is not good at the field events. I can't think of any strong Irish athlete in the field events at the moment. That will cost them a lot of points. I foresee that they will finish many events around 5th-7th place. Romania is not that strong in the track events. I don't foresee a lot of top half finishes in those events and there are less field events to compensate for those. Honestly, if all countries bring their strongest teams, I don't see Romania winning any event. Maybe women's long jump or triple jump. Lithuania is strong in a number of events such as discus and javelin throw, but the track events are poor, often bottom two. Wouldn't be surprised if they would finish last in the relays on the men's side. Volko is good, but the guys from Turkey and the Netherlands are also good in those events, and one person on the men's side is not enough to carry the team. Mid and long-distance running, apart from the women's 800m seems to be non-existing there, there's not enough depth for strong relay teams, and shot put and discus are also not that strong. Just too many last places in my eyes which will not be compensated by many 'podium' finishes.