€3.5m 2028 European Athletics Championships Prize Fund Highlights CAA’s Athlete Welfare Gap

European Athletics has announced a record €3.5 million prize fund for the 2028 European Athletics Championships in Silesia, Poland, in another indication of the growing emphasis on rewarding and protecting the athletes who make major championships possible.

The landmark package will see prize money awarded to the top eight finishers in all 50 event disciplines, with every individual champion receiving €30,000, silver medalists €15,000 and bronze medalists €10,000.

Athletes finishing fourth to eighth will receive €5,000, €4,000, €3,000, €2,000 and €1,000 respectively, while relay prize money will be shared among team members.

The announcement should also prompt the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) to examine how it stages its own flagship championship.

While European Athletics is putting €3.5 million into athlete rewards, African championships have repeatedly faced questions not only about prize money but also about the basic conditions under which Africa’s leading athletes are expected to compete.

The contrast was particularly stark at the 2024 African Championships in Douala, Cameroon, where some of the continent’s biggest stars publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the organisation.

Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith, one of Africa’s most accomplished sprinters, complained about transportation and other organisational problems before withdrawing from the women’s 100m semi-final. World Athletics’ official results list her as a DNS.

Nigeria’s Favour Ofili also withdrew from the same semi-final after winning her heat in 11.22 seconds, with the World Athletics results recording her as a DNS.

Ta Lou said the problems were serious enough to leave her “hurt and disappointed”, while reports from the championship documented complaints about transportation, delays and other aspects of the organisation.

That episode illustrated a problem that goes beyond prize money. A continental championship featuring some of Africa’s most accomplished athletes should provide conditions that allow them to compete safely, fairly and at the level expected of a major international competition.

Instead, African athletics has too often been forced to explain away problems with facilities, equipment, accommodation, transportation, scheduling and officiating.

The issue is not that CAA must immediately match European Athletics’ €3.5 million. Europe’s athletics economy, commercial structure and championship revenues are different.

But the principle behind the Silesia decision is relevant to Africa: the athlete must be at the centre of the championship.

European Athletics President Dobromir Karamarinov said the new prize fund was designed to recognise not only medallists but athletes across the top eight, while CEO Christian Milz described the decision as a demonstration of the organisation’s commitment to athletes.

That philosophy presents a useful challenge to CAA.

African athletics has no shortage of talent. The continent produces Olympic champions, world champions and global sprint and distance-running stars. What remains a question is whether its premier continental championship is being developed with the same seriousness as the athletes it showcases.

The Douala experience was particularly damaging because athletes who should have been the principal attractions of the championship became part of the story because of organisational problems. Ta Lou and Ofili were both in the women’s 100m heats, but neither appeared in the semi-final.

For a continental governing body seeking to raise the profile of African athletics, that should be a warning.