European Games on Totallympics

The 2023 European Games will be a major qualification pathway event for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and it is all covered on Totallympics and Totallympics News.

The sports

Most Olympic sports contested in Poland (specifically Kraków and the greater Lesser Poland region) will qualify spots for the Olympics. In Artistic Swimming, the European place automatically goes to hosts France. However, qualifying a team automatically qualifies a duet as well. Therefore, France are automatically in the duet, and the host spot reserved for them opens up again. The top duet team, combining technical and free routines (which are separate medal events here) will snag the spot. Non-Olympic qualifying events are the Team technical and free, as well as Mixed duet technical and free, acrobatic routine, and free combination routine.

Staying in the aquatics category and Diving will be integrated into the European Diving Championships for the first time. In each of the four Olympic individual events per gender, the champion will get a place, provided that they do not qualify in the 2023 World Championships in Japan (which is higher up on the priority but later this year). While the writing is a little ambiguous, it seems that the spot will not be retrospectively reallocated if the champion has already qualified, instead it will pass on to the 2024 Championships in Qatar. Apart from these four events, there are the usual synchro events (including the mixed ones), the 1m springboard and a mixed team event.

In Archery, the top ranked team in the recurve event per gender will qualify a spot, subject to the World Championships in neighbouring Germany (which is higher up on the priority despite being later chronologically). Should a team qualify, they also enter three individual athletes. The top mixed team will also qualify one man and one woman. Having at least one man and one woman will qualify. Finally, the top two athletes (from different countries) in the individual recurve competitions per gender will earn a place. In addition to the five Olympic events, there are three compound events: the men's/women's individual and mixed team.

Athletics sees another already existing event integrated in the form of the European Team Athletics Championships. There is no direct qualification here, but ranking points can be earned in the relays. There will be European Games medallists for the first division in the usual events: gendered 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 110m (male)/100m (female) hurdles, 400m hurdles, 3,000m steeplechase, 4x100m, high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump, shot put, discus throw, hammer throw, and javelin throw; and a mixed 4x400m relay.

Badminton has a purely rankings-based system for which points will be won, which will apply for the men's/women's singles and men's/women's/mixed doubles.

3x3 Basketball has a mostly rankings-based system and countries can win points here, with a men's and women's event.

Beach Handball is a non-Olympic sport, with men's and women's competition.

Beach Soccer is another non-Olympic sport, which also has one competition per gender.

Boxing sees a major European Olympic qualifier. The events match up with the Olympic weights. In most events, the top four will qualify, while in the Men's Flyweight, Heavyweight, and Super Heavyweight; and the Women's Middleweight, only the top two will.

In the new sport of Breaking, the winner qualifies a spot in both events (male and female).

In Canoe Slalom, the top athlete who hasn't qualified already (the top fifteen in K1 and the top twelve in C1 at the World Championships) will earn a spot. This is applied retrospectively as the Worlds in Great Britain are not until September. There are also Kayak Cross events but these do not qualify for Paris, as well as C1 and K1 team events for both genders.

Staying in the boats with Canoe Sprint, for both genders we see K1 and C1 events in 200m and 500m, K2, C2 and K4 events in 500m, and mixed K2 and C2 events at 200m. However, these do not qualify for the Olympics (I suppose they have bended their 'all Olympic sports' rule to count Canoeing as one sport; if counting ranking points didn't bend them enough.

From the boats to the bikes, and Cycling BMX Freestyle is here but just like Canoe Sprint, this does not qualify for the Olympics in the men's or women's park categories.

Mountain Bike sees continental championships exist, but Europe is not included and so only the ranking points matter in the men's and women's event.

Fencing has the usual twelve events, but only the ranking points matter, and only for the team ones (although a team spot is the main way to qualify individual athletes)

The integration of the European Mixed Team Judo Championships has in some form or another been present at all European Games and this is no different. Ranking points are on the line. Only one gold medal will be handed out for the winner.

Eight Modern Pentathlon places are up for grabs per gender (one per NOC), as long as an athlete didn't grab a place in the earlier World Cup Final (where a non-European won the men's event but Italy's Elena Micheli won the women's) or the World Championships in August in Great Britain. There are also non-Olympic events in the form of gendered team events and a mixed relay.

The non-Olympic sport of Muaythai sees five weight categories for Men (Light Welterweight, Welterweight, Light Middleweight, Middleweight, and Heavyweight) and five for Women (Flyweight, Bantamweight, Featherweight, Lightweight, and Light Welterweight).

Another non-Olympic sport, Padel, sees Men's, Women's, and Mixed Doubles competitions.

In Rugby Sevens, this is the European qualifier with the winner getting a place. Hosts France have already qualified by default, while in the Women's event Ireland are another European team to already confirm a berth (through the World Series).

In Shooting, the winner of each individual event (all are being contested) get a spot. These exclude athletes who have already qualified or from countries that have the maximum two spots already: of Europeans, these are:
Men's 50m Rifle Three Positions: Jon-Hermann Hegg (Norway), Petr Nymburský (Czech Republic), Serhiy Kulish (Ukraine), Tomasz Bartnik (Poland)

Men's 10m Air Rifle: Danilo Sollazzo (Italy), Jiří Přívratský (Czech Republic), Maximilian Ulbrich (Germany), Patrik Jány (Slovakia)

Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol: Germany (two qualified already), Clément Bessaguet (France)

Men's 10m Air Pistol: Pavlo Korostylov (Ukraine), Damir Mikec (Serbia), Ruslan Lunev (Azerbaijan)

Men's Trap: Jiří Lipták (Czech Republic), Rickard Levin-Andersson (Sweden), Nathan Hales (Great Britain)

Men's Skeet: Luigi Lodde (Italy), Jakub Tomeček (Czech Republic), Stefan Nilsson (Sweden)

Women's 50m Rifle Three Positions: Rikke Ibsen (Denmark), Veronika Blažíčková (Czech Republic), Jenny Stene (Norway)

Women's 10m Air Rifle: Julia Ewa Piotrowska (Poland), Seonaid McIntosh (Great Britain), Jeanette Hegg Duestad (Norway)

Women's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol: Doreen Vennekamp (Germany), Klaudia Breś (Poland), Antoaneta Kostadinova (Bulgaria)

Women's 10m Air Pistol: Greece (Two qualified) Zorana Arunović (Serbia), Elmira Karapetyan (Armenia), Camile Jedrzejewski (Poland)

Women's Trap: Silvana Stanco (Italy), Lucy Hall (Great Britain), Carole Cornmeier (France), Fátima Gálvez (Spain)

Women's Skeet: Amber Hill (Great Britain), Nadine Messerschmidt (Germany), Diana Bacosi (Italy), Vanesa Hocková (Slovakia), Iryna Mavlochiko (Ukraine)

There is no direct qualification for the mixed events, but qualifying one man and one woman will earn a space. Currently, Great Britain have a place in the Trap (with Italy, France, and Spain one man away and the Czech Republic and Sweden one woman away), and Italy have one in the Skeet (with Great Britain, Germany, Slovakia and Ukraine one man away; and the Czech Republic and Sweden one woman away).

Apart from these, there are also gendered team events for every event, and mixed team events for every other event, which are not on the Olympic programme.

Ski Jumping is on the programme but as a Winter Olympic sport does not qualify for Paris. There is a men's, women's and mixed normal hill event and a men's and women's large hill.

Sport Climbing is here but does not qualify Olympic places. There are boulder, lead, and speed events for both genders.

Table Tennis has the usual Olympic five events but this is only the European qualifying event in Mixed Doubles. The winner gets a spot.

Taekwondo will contribute Olympic ranking points. There are double the weights; as well as the Olympic ones there will be Finweight, Bantamweight, Lightweight and Middleweight.

The non-Olympic sport of Teqball sees Men's and Women's Singles and Doubles in addition to Mixed Doubles.

Finally, Triathlon sees ranking points in both the gendered individual and mixed relay events.

There are some non-medal demonstration sports as well: these are Amputee Football, Chess, Motor Racing, Mountaineering, Orienteering, and Sumo, as well as the usual separate but connected E-Sports competition.

Totallympics

Totallympics will have you covered throughout the Games, which will last from 21 June to 2 July with some prelimiaries on 20 June. Totallympics News will update on the Olympic qualification, while you can check the forums to discuss the Games as a whole, your favourite sport, and every detail from the mascots to the broadcast graphics, as well as find a helpful community for the best links to watch the Games. Finally, you can join your country's national club to talk about the Games with your "teammates" in your own language, those in European countries are:

Serbia

Germany

Croatia

Joint Czech Republic-Slovakia

Romania

Spain

Greece

Poland

Italy

Great Britain

Hungary

Ireland

Israel

Netherlands

France

And if yours doesn't exist yet, you can create your own!

The Results Database will also be open (and will probably be better than the official one!)

Whatever it is you want from the Games, Totallympics has you covered

Patrick Green

Writer, Totallympics News