The first five British athletes have been selected to run the marathon at the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham.
Mahamed Mahamed leads the British marathon entries for this summer’s European Athletics Championships.
After returning strongly from an injury-affected 2025, the 28-year-old recorded a personal best over the half-marathon of 61:09 in Barcelona this past weekend.
He holds a marathon best of 2:07:05 – from his fourth place finish in London two years ago – which sees him fourth on the UK all-time standings.
Phil Sesemann, with a best of 2:07:11 from last year’s Valencia Marathon, is fifth on the UK all-time list and he’s also been selected to run 26.2 miles in Birmingham. The other male athlete who has made the team so far is Jonny Mellor and he also excelled in Valencia back in December, running a best of 2:08:45 at the age of 39.
The women’s field is led by European cross-country bronze medallist and 2:24:11 marathon runner Abbie Donnelly. She recorded that mark at las year’s Frankfurt Marathon when, in just her second ever race over 26.2 miles, she became the first European athlete to cross the finish line.
Joining her is Natasha Wilson, who represented Great Britain at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest. Wilson had a good 2025 autumn season, posting personal bests over 10km and in the marathon, the latter a 2:24:19 run that places her eighth on the UK all‑time list.
This selection has been made in line with the policy aims of achieving top‑eight individual placings and maximising the potential for team medal success. A second selection will take place in the spring.
Both the men’s and women’s marathon will take place on the morning of August 16.
Performance Director Paula Dunn said: “We are delighted to confirm the first athletes selected for the marathon at the European Championships. Each of them has demonstrated exceptional form, and their performances over the last year show they are capable of competing with the very best in Europe.
“Birmingham will provide a fantastic stage for these athletes, with the home crowd cheering them on. We look forward to adding further athletes to the team in the spring as preparations continue to build towards August.”