The Kraków-Małopolska 2023 European Games will see a host of star performers representing Team GB in Poland including multiple Olympic champions.
With qualification on the line for the majority of the 18 disciplines, with either direct quota spots or ranking points, the third edition of the European Games promises to be one of the highlights of the summer.
And whether it is established Olympic champions or those with unfinished business at the highest level, there is no shortage of British talent to watch out for in Poland.
Team GB have a total of 178 athletes from 18 disciplines taking part in Krakow, with the full team announcement here.
Here are ten of the most exciting:
Declan Brooks (BMX Freestyle)
Brought up on the south coast in Portsmouth, Declan Brooks first started riding a BMX at the age of nine. When BMX freestyle made its first appearance at the Olympics in Tokyo, Brooks was primed and ready to go, scooping bronze, to add to the medal of the same colour he had previously claimed at the European Championships in 2019.
Prior to his Olympic success, Brooks’ skills on the bike earned him a chance to travel to the USA and Canada with the Cirque du Soleil before turning his focus to competitive riding.
Joe Choong (Modern Pentathlon)
Crowned Britain’s first-ever male modern pentathlon Olympic champion, Joe Choong is now setting his sights on becoming only the third man ever to retain the Olympic crown in the discipline.
Success in Tokyo was just the start for Choong, who followed up with a world title in 2022 in Alexandria. Completing his collection of medals with a European Games gold is the next target.
Joe Clarke (Canoe Slalom)
It is now seven years since Joe Clarke was crowned Olympic champion in the K1 at Rio 2016 and the 30-year-old looks to be hitting top form a year out from Paris.
Back-to-back world titles in the extreme kayak have been the perfect response to missing out on selection for Tokyo 2020, and with the discipline being introduced next year, Clarke will be looking to maintain his momentum in Poland.
Bianca Cook (Taekwondo)
A three-time world champion, Bianca Cook (née Walkden) returns to the European Games stage eight years on from reaching the quarter-finals in Baku.
Since then, Cook has added two Olympic bronze medals to her collection, in Rio and Tokyo, while in 2022, she won a fourth European Championship title on home soil in Manchester. Housemates with fellow GB taekwondo fighter Jade Jones, Cook will be keen to emulate Jones by earning a European Games gold in Poland.
Mallory Franklin (Canoe Slalom)
Canoe slalom will make its European Games debut in Kraków-Małopolska with Olympic silver medallist Mallory Franklin one of the biggest names in action.
A seven-time European Championship gold medallist, most recently in the C1, Franklin also has five world titles to her name. She claimed silver in Tokyo on the Olympic stage two years ago to cement her position as Britain’s most successful female canoeist.
Jade Jones (Taekwondo)
Britain’s first-ever taekwondo Olympic gold medallist, Jade Jones, is back on the European Games stage eight years after making her debut. She won gold in Baku in 2015, by which time she had already won the first of two Olympic golds.
Jones added a second in Rio but missed the chance to become the first British woman to win Olympic gold in the same event at three separate Games when she was beaten in the round of 16 in Tokyo. She will look to add another European Games gold to her collection ahead of a bid to reach her fourth Olympics.
Seonaid McIntosh (Shooting)
Seonaid McIntosh is one of four members of Team GB who will be appearing in her third European Games, alongside fellow shooter Amber Rutter (née Hill) and table tennis pair Liam Pitchford and Paul Drinkhall.
McIntosh made her Olympic debut in Tokyo, failing to get through qualifying in either the 10m air rifle or 50m rifle 3 positions, but has bounced back from that disappointment impressively, taking European Championship silver in the former event earlier this year as well as World Cup gold in the latter.
Grace Reid (Diving)
Diving makes its return to the European Games stage in Poland, with Grace Reid set to make her debut in the event.
At 27, Reid has a world silver and bronze to her name, along with two Commonwealth and European Championship golds. Most recently, she won Commonwealth 3m mixed synchro gold alongside James Heatly in Birmingham, the pair part of the squad that will head to Kraków-Małopolska.
Bradly Sinden (Taekwondo)
Britain’s taekwondo success over the past decade and a half has been largely down to the strength of the women’s team but that is beginning to change with the emergence of Bradly Sinden.
Still only 24, Sinden won Olympic silver in Tokyo, and recently claimed a second world title in Baku – four years after becoming Britain’s first men’s taekwondo world champion. A year out from Paris, he needs one more Olympic medal to match Lutalo Muhammad’s haul of a silver and bronze – the most by any British man in the sport.
Charlotte Worthington (BMX Freestyle)
The full-time chef who turned her hand to BMX and claimed Olympic gold, Charlotte Worthington was one of the feel-good stories of Tokyo 2020.
She made history by becoming the first woman ever to land a 360-degree backflip in competition on her way to BMX freestyle gold in Japan. She is the first to admit that backing up Tokyo success has not been easy, but Worthington has rediscovered her love for the sport ahead of the European Games.
Buy tickets for Krakow 2023 now at: https://www.european-games.org/the-games/buy-your-tickets/
Sportsbeat 2023