Note: Single-source report; awaiting corroboration.
The 20th anniversary European Athletics Future Leaders Forum was held alongside the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, bringing together 63 participants from 45 European member federations for a four-day programme. The event featured contributions from prominent figures including World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, European Athletics President Dobromir Karamarinov, former Future Leaders participants, and members of the European Athletics Executive Board.
A central element of the forum was the Legacy Lab project, themed 'Where Leadership Becomes Action', which tasked participants with developing practical solutions to challenges facing European Athletics and its member federations. This collaborative exercise fostered idea-sharing, mutual learning, and the creation of projects aimed at making a lasting impact within athletics.
Among the guest speakers was Katrin Heyers, founder of DecathLead and member of the European Athletics Development Commission. Heyers was nominated by the German Athletics Association in 2014 to attend the predecessor of the forum, the Young Leaders Seminar, which she described as a transformative experience that revealed opportunities within the sport.
Participants described the forum as an invaluable social and learning experience. For example, Syria Trifilio, assistant event organiser at the Monegasque Athletics Federation, noted she gained confidence and benefited from learning about federation practices. On the final day, participants presented their ideas from the Legacy Lab to the European Athletics Executive Board and member federation leaders.