Muscle fibres honed, fast-twitch reactions snapping, endurance batteries charged, the 2024 European Athletics Championships will be full of human endeavour, enhanced in its drama with less than two months to go until the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

From debutants trying to make a breakthrough, to edge-of-Olympic-selection nervousness, to those making their final preparations for the XXXIII Olympiad, the European Championships taking place in Rome from 7-12 June, will showcase success, agony, and unexpected moments as athletes take to track & field events at the Stadio Olimpico.

Continental bragging rights are, of course, at stake, but there’s more.

Some big-name athletes have yet to secure the Olympic qualifying mark for their sport and must do so in Italy to even have a chance of competing for Olympic honours.

Many athletes are yet to be officially selected by their National Olympic Committees for a hallowed place so must showcase their form on the last big stage before the Olympic Games in France.

So ahead of the six-day championships, in which nine World champions are set to compete, Olympics.com highlights just some of the not-to-be-missed storylines.

• As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes’ participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
• Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.