Field Events Analysis home - Selection Policy Comparison

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What this page tests

How did UK Athletics select for Birmingham 2026, compared with the other European federations?

Does holding a Road to Birmingham Qualifying Position get an athlete selected? UK Athletics against the other 27 federations. Men's javelin (European standard 83.00m) is the worked example.

What we found

UK Athletics was the only federation found leaving out athletes who held a Road to Birmingham Qualifying Position: at least five were not selected, including five field athletes.

  • Men's triple jump: Daniel Falode (QP 23)
  • Women's triple jump: Georgie Forde-Wells (QP 30)
  • Men's high jump: Charlie Husbands (QP 23)
  • Men's discus: Nicholas Percy (QP 23)
  • Men's javelin: QP 25
  • Men's 110m hurdles: Daniel Goriola (QP 32)

Even federations with their own internal standard ignored it: 9 of the 10 with one (Belgium, Czechia, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland and Spain) sent a ranking-qualified athlete below their own mark.

A place GB & NI declines goes to another country - in men's javelin, to Italy's Michele Fina.

Scope of data used in this analysis:

  • Source: published national selection-policy documents (not World Athletics competition results) - see the "Confirmed / Secondary / Pending" status key above.
  • Federations compared: 28, of which 28 are read directly from the federation's own primary document (Confirmed status).
  • Worked example: men's javelin figures are shown where the primary document specifies them, since the European Athletics entry standard (83.00m) is the same for every federation and so directly comparable.
  • 1 federation still has a Pending status - not yet verified against any source, so should not be treated as fact.

A national bar only costs an athlete a place if it exists, is stricter than the ranking route, can't be waived, and the federation will leave the place empty. Most fail the first test: of the 28, 15 have no national mark at all. Of the 10 that do, 9 set it below the European standard across the programme (e.g. Poland 1500m 3:34.90 vs 3:33.50; Netherlands high jump 2.21m vs 2.27m; Spain pole vault 5.65m vs 5.82m).

A declined place is reallocated to the next-best world ranking (EA Qualification System, p.2-3). GB & NI's men's javelin place (Qualifying Position 25) was not used; Italy's Michele Fina, ranked 43rd, competes instead - several declined places may sit between them in the queue.

Birmingham 2026 outcomes are as announced up to the compile date. Click underlined text for detail.

If you hold a Road to Birmingham Qualifying Position, are you selected?
Reading the columns together, not in isolation, shows how a country actually behaves - a published national mark below the EA standard, or one that is routinely waived, is not functioning as a barrier at all.

Country If you hold a Qualifying Position, are you selected? National bar vs EA standard Can the bar be waived? Can a Qualifying Position be left unfilled? Men's javelin mark
(EA standard: 83.00m)		 Source document
Automatic - no further substantive test beyond fitness/admin conditions
Austria Automatic None n/a - no bar No mechanism None OELV Nominierungskriterien 2026 (PDF)
Croatia Automatic None n/a - no bar No mechanism None HAS Selekcije, natjecanja, kriteriji i kandidati 2026 (PDF)
Cyprus Automatic None n/a - no bar No mechanism None KOEAS news article on Road to Birmingham standings
Denmark Automatic None n/a - no bar No mechanism None Danish Athletics Selection Policy and Consideration Standards (PDF, full document confirmed)
Estonia Automatic None n/a - no bar No mechanism None EKJL 2026 dispatch conditions (PDF)
Greece Automatic None n/a - no bar No mechanism None SEGAS 2026 selection criteria (full page, confirmed 19 Feb 2026)
Italy Automatic None n/a - no bar No mechanism None FIDAL criteria (PDF)
Latvia Automatic None n/a - no bar No mechanism None LVS Eiropas cempionats event page (general qualification criteria, confirmed) / Sportacentrs.com squad announcement (30 Jul 2026, confirms full 7-athlete team)
Lithuania Automatic None n/a - no bar No mechanism None LLAF team formation principles 2025-2028 (PDF)
Norway Automatic None n/a - no bar No mechanism None NFIF Krav og kriterier (user-provided EM Birmingham section and Krav til EM table, both confirmed)
Portugal Automatic None n/a - no bar No mechanism None FPA criteria (PDF)
Slovenia Automatic None n/a - no bar No mechanism None AZS Merila 2026 (PDF, full document confirmed)
Sweden Automatic None n/a - no bar No mechanism None Friidrottsforbundet criteria (user-provided, full EM Birmingham section confirmed)
Switzerland Automatic None n/a - no bar No mechanism None Swiss Athletics Selektionskonzepte 2026 (PDF, full document confirmed)
Turkey Automatic None n/a - no bar No mechanism None TAF Road to Birmingham criteria (PDF)
Extra test - published number: a separate national mark exists, with a published (not purely discretionary) mechanism around it
France Extra test - published number At or above EA Yes - demonstrated No mechanism 85.00m (Minima A) / 83.00m (Minima B) FFA Criteres Specifiques (PDF) / Official team list (confirms Sosaia's mark and men's category)
Germany Extra test - published number Below EA No Possible 80.50m DLV Nominierungsrichtlinien 2026 (PDF)
Belgium Extra test - published number Below EA Yes - demonstrated Possible 82.41m (SEN) / 80.61m (U23) LBFA/KBAB criteres (PDF, user-provided, full document confirmed) / L'Avenir, 29 Jul 2026 (news, confirms the clause's application)
Czechia Extra test - published number Below EA Yes - demonstrated Possible 79.00m CAS Nominacni kriteria (PDF)
Finland Extra test - published number Below EA Yes - demonstrated No mechanism 78.00m SUL Valintajarjestelma (PDF)
Hungary Further test - published number Below EA Yes - demonstrated Possible 80.00m MASZ 2026 Szakmai Program (PDF)
Ireland Extra test - published number Below EA Yes - demonstrated Yes - stated expressly 79.00m Athletics Ireland 2026 EC Policy (PDF)
Netherlands Extra test - published number Below EA Yes - demonstrated No mechanism 80.22m Atletiekunie EK Birmingham page (full 21pp Kwalificatie-eisen document confirmed, user-provided)
Poland Extra test - published number Below EA Yes - demonstrated Possible 81.00m PZLA Wskazniki i zasady kwalifikacji (PDF) - user-provided; automated access still blocked by robots.txt
Spain Extra test - published number Below EA Yes - demonstrated Possible 81.00m RFEA Circular 209/2025 (user-provided, full document confirmed incl. javelin table)
Extra test - judgement: no separate numeric mark; a discretionary panel decision is the mechanism itself
Slovakia Extra test - judgement None Yes - demonstrated No mechanism None SAZ Nominacne kriteria (PDF, full document confirmed)
United Kingdom Extra test - judgement None n/a - no bar Yes - stated expressly None UKA 2026 Selection Policy (PDF)
Unknown - a document exists and shows no additional numeric bar, but not enough procedural detail is confirmed to call the mechanism Automatic
Ukraine Unknown None n/a - no bar No mechanism None FLAU Selection Criteria 2026 (PDF) - user-provided, full 26pp document confirmed (System of athlete selection to FLAU official delegations 2026, approved 2026)

Green row shading = read directly from the federation's own primary policy document. Yellow = secondary source only, primary document not yet fully read. Grey = not yet verified; treat as unconfirmed, not fact. "TBD"/"Pending" anywhere on this page means genuinely unresolved, not "no."