European Athletics Championships prize money
The European Championships paid nobody from 1934 until Rome 2024. Rome 2024 and Birmingham 2026 each paid €500,000, as ten Gold Crowns of €50,000: one per event group for men and one for women, to the performance that scored highest in that group. So 79 of the 99 European titles won at the two editions paid nothing.
Silesia 2028 replaces the crowns with a ladder. It pays €30,000 for a title down to €1,000 for eighth in every one of its 50 disciplines, €3,500,000 in all, which is 7 times what either edition before it paid.
Every athlete paid at the European Championships
All 18 Gold Crown winners, and what the rest of the sport pays them
| # | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | CROWNS | CROWN MONEY | CIRCUIT MONEY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Armand Duplantis | Sweden | 2 | €100,000 | €886,077 |
| 2 | Karsten Warholm | Norway | 2 | €100,000 | €421,816 |
| 3 | Sandra Elkasević | Croatia | 1 | €50,000 | €619,088 |
| 4 | Jakob Ingebrigtsen | Norway | 1 | €50,000 | €508,466 |
| 5 | Femke Bol | Netherlands | 1 | €50,000 | €497,910 |
| 6 | Audrey Werro | Switzerland | 1 | €50,000 | €331,207 |
| 7 | Malaika Mihambo | Germany | 1 | €50,000 | €246,096 |
| 8 | Kristjan Čeh | Slovenia | 1 | €50,000 | €234,440 |
| 9 | Jessica Schilder | Netherlands | 1 | €50,000 | €221,024 |
| 10 | Henriette Jæger | Norway | 1 | €50,000 | €182,538 |
| 11 | Angelica Moser | Switzerland | 1 | €50,000 | €159,116 |
| 12 | Leonardo Fabbri | Italy | 1 | €50,000 | €145,150 |
| 13 | Nadia Battocletti | Italy | 1 | €50,000 | €106,883 |
| 14 | Andreas Almgren | Sweden | 1 | €50,000 | €49,483 |
| 15 | Nafissatou Thiam | Belgium | 1 | €50,000 | €32,549 |
| 16 | Johannes Erm | Estonia | 1 | €50,000 | €27,271 |
| 17 | Massimo Stano | Italy | 1 | €50,000 | - |
| 18 | Sofia Fiorini | Italy | 1 | €50,000 | - |
Armand Duplantis and Karsten Warholm are the only athletes crowned at both editions, and so the only two paid €100,000. The last column is what the Diamond League, the World Championships, the World Indoor Championships, the Ultimate Championship and the World Cross Country Championships have paid the same athlete across every season this section holds. Massimo Stano and Sofia Fiorini have never been paid by any of them, so the crown is the only prize money on this site paid to either of them.
What the circuit pays the Gold Crown winners
Career prize money, against a crown worth €50,000
Armand Duplantis has taken €886,077 out of the sport's paying competitions, against the €100,000 from two crowns. Taken together the 16 crown winners the circuit has paid hold €4,669,114 from it. For Andreas Almgren, Nafissatou Thiam and Johannes Erm it runs the other way: the European crown paid more than every other competition in this section put together.
The ten Gold Crowns at Birmingham 2026
Birmingham, 10 to 16 August 2026. 50 events, ten of them paid
| ATHLETE | EVENT | MARK | COUNTRY | PAID |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karsten Warholm | Men's 400 metres hurdles | 46.63 | Norway | €50,000 |
| Henriette Jæger | Women's 400 metres | 49.04 | Norway | €50,000 |
| Andreas Almgren | Men's 10,000 metres | 27:23.44 | Sweden | €50,000 |
| Audrey Werro | Women's 800 metres | 1:54.81 | Switzerland | €50,000 |
| Kristjan Čeh | Men's discus throw | 72.51 m | Slovenia | €50,000 |
| Jessica Schilder | Women's shot put | 20.73 m | Netherlands | €50,000 |
| Armand Duplantis | Men's pole vault | 6.15 m | Sweden | €50,000 |
| Angelica Moser | Women's pole vault | 4.80 m | Switzerland | €50,000 |
| Massimo Stano | Men's marathon race walk | 2:56:49 | Italy | €50,000 |
| Sofia Fiorini | Women's marathon race walk | 3:15:11 | Italy | €50,000 |
Karsten Warholm and Armand Duplantis won the same crown they had won in Rome, and are the only athletes paid at both editions. The other 40 of the 50 champions in Birmingham were paid nothing, and Birmingham 2026 was the last edition to pay on crowns.
The ten Gold Crowns at Rome 2024
Rome, 7 to 12 June 2024. 49 events, ten of them paid
| ATHLETE | EVENT | MARK | POINTS | COUNTRY | PAID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karsten Warholm | Men's 400 metres hurdles | 46.98 | 1,285 | Norway | €50,000 |
| Femke Bol | Women's 400 metres hurdles | 52.49 | 1,253 | Netherlands | €50,000 |
| Jakob Ingebrigtsen | Men's 1500 metres | 3:31.95 | 1,217 | Norway | €50,000 |
| Nadia Battocletti | Women's 5000 metres | 14:35.29 | 1,211 | Italy | €50,000 |
| Leonardo Fabbri | Men's shot put | 22.45 m | 1,267 | Italy | €50,000 |
| Sandra Elkasević | Women's discus throw | 67.04 m | 1,201 | Croatia | €50,000 |
| Armand Duplantis | Men's pole vault | 6.10 m | 1,294 | Sweden | €50,000 |
| Malaika Mihambo | Women's long jump | 7.22 m | 1,275 | Germany | €50,000 |
| Johannes Erm | Men's decathlon | 8,764 pts | 1,245 | Estonia | €50,000 |
| Nafissatou Thiam | Women's heptathlon | 6,848 pts | 1,242 | Belgium | €50,000 |
The crowns went on score, not on title. Armand Duplantis's 6.10 m in the pole vault scored 1,294, the highest of the championships, and Sandra Elkasević's 67.04 m in the discus throw took the women's throws crown on 1,201. Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Nadia Battocletti each won two titles in Rome and were each paid once. The other 39 of the 49 champions were paid nothing.
Every country paid at the European Championships
Ten countries have won a Gold Crown, at €50,000 each
Italy and Norway lead on €200,000 each. Italy was paid through Massimo Stano, Sofia Fiorini, Nadia Battocletti and Leonardo Fabbri; Norway was paid through Karsten Warholm, Henriette Jæger and Jakob Ingebrigtsen. No other country has more than €150,000.
Athletics prize money by country takes the same question across the whole sport, adding the Diamond League and the championships together country by country, with a page for each.
What Silesia 2028 will pay
Chorzów, 3 to 8 June 2028. Eight places paid in each of 50 disciplines
| PLACE | ONE DISCIPLINE | ALL 50 |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | €30,000 | €1,500,000€1.5m |
| 2nd | €15,000 | €750,000 |
| 3rd | €10,000 | €500,000 |
| 4th | €5,000 | €250,000 |
| 5th | €4,000 | €200,000 |
| 6th | €3,000 | €150,000 |
| 7th | €2,000 | €100,000 |
| 8th | €1,000 | €50,000 |
| All eight | €70,000 | €3,500,000€3.5m |
400 paid places against the ten crowns before it. A 2028 title pays €30,000, less than a crown did, but it is paid to all 50 champions, so the titles alone come to €1,500,000. A relay place pays the team, and the team shares it.
Frequently asked questions
How much prize money do the European Athletics Championships pay?
€500,000 at each of Rome 2024 and Birmingham 2026, paid as ten Gold Crowns of €50,000 each. Silesia 2028 pays €3,500,000, spread across eight places in all 50 disciplines, which is 7 times as much.
What is a Gold Crown?
A payment of €50,000 to the best performance in one of five event groups: sprints and hurdles, middle and long distance, throws, jumps, and road, combined events and relays. There is one crown per group for men and one for women, and it goes to the final performance that scores highest on the World Athletics scoring tables, so a winning 400 metres hurdles can beat a winning 100 metres to it.
Does a European champion get prize money?
Not at Rome 2024 or Birmingham 2026, unless the winning performance also took a crown. 79 of the 99 champions across the two editions were paid nothing by the organiser. From Silesia 2028 every champion is paid €30,000, and eighth place is paid €1,000.
Who has won the most European Championships prize money?
Armand Duplantis and Karsten Warholm, on €100,000 each. They are the only athletes to win a crown at both Rome 2024 and Birmingham 2026. The other sixteen have one crown each.
Can one athlete win two Gold Crowns at the same championships?
Only by winning in two different event groups, and nobody has. There is one crown per group, so two titles in the same group pay once: Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the 1500 metres and the 5000 metres in Rome and was paid €50,000, for the 1500. Nadia Battocletti won the 5000 and the 10,000 metres and was paid once, for the 5000.
How much will a European champion earn at Silesia 2028?
€30,000 for a title, €15,000 for silver and €10,000 for bronze, down to €1,000 for eighth. That is €70,000 a discipline and 400 paid places against the ten crowns before it. A relay place pays the team, and the team shares it.
Did the European Athletics Championships pay prize money before 2024?
No. The championships were first held in 1934 and paid nobody until Rome 2024, where the ten crowns came to €500,000.
Where to next
The competitions that pay athletics the rest of the year
Olympic athletics prize money is the other championship that pays a title rather than a place, and pays it in every event on the programme. Diamond League prize money is the circuit the last column of the first table is drawn from. The athletics section holds each competition on its own, and every crown winner below with a page here has the crown set against the rest of their career.
The competitions
- Diamond League
- World Championships
- Indoor Championships
- Ultimate Championship
- World Relays
- Cross Country
- Olympic Games