Why the European Championships Postponed Six Medal Ceremonies

A security operation at the 2026 European Athletics Championships suspended transport out of Alexander Stadium on Saturday night, postponing six medal ceremonies and leaving a near-capacity crowd of about 23,000 waiting to get home from the Birmingham venue that hosted athletics at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Police said a man carrying the wrong accreditation was found inside the stadium at about 8:15 p.m., and that transport for athletes and championship staff was suspended as a precaution, the Associated Press reported. West Midlands Police, which covers Birmingham and the surrounding region, arrested the man, who is in his 30s, on suspicion of fraud and said he was still being questioned in custody on Sunday. He has not been named, no charge has been announced, and police said there was “no immediate risk to the public.”

Six ceremonies had been scheduled between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., at the end of Saturday’s evening session, and an announcement inside the stadium told the crowd they would not go ahead. They were moved to Sunday, instead.

Andreas Almgren of Sweden had won the 10,000m in 27:23.44, a championship record, ahead of Dominic Lobalu of Switzerland in 27:42.67 and Jimmy Gressier of France in 28:07.90. Stefan Nillessen of the Netherlands took the 1,500m in 3:35.70. Great Britain won both 4x100m relays, the women’s final closing the program at 9:48 p.m. Neither the organizers nor European Athletics has published a list of the six ceremonies affected.

The two British relay squads were among the athletes sent back to the high performance center beside the stadium, according to PA. Athletes started queuing for official transport at 10:15 p.m., many did not reach their hotels until 12:45 a.m. on Sunday, and some were due to race again on Sunday evening. Services resumed about an hour and 45 minutes later, with athletes racing on the final day given priority. A spectator, Susie Barnacle, posted on X that there were “armed police at the buses” and that she had been “waiting for nearly two hours to leave.”

The championships’ official account apologized for the delays at 11:03 p.m. without giving a reason. Birmingham 2026, European Athletics and West Midlands Police have not accounted publicly for the two hours between the accreditation check and the start of the athletes’ queue, or for why transport was stopped at all over an incident police described as posing no immediate risk to the public.

Complaints about the stadium had surfaced earlier in the week. BBC News reported on Tuesday, four days before the session, that nearly 10,000 seats were empty at Alexander Stadium the previous Monday, that the venue was 55 percent full on Monday morning and 59 percent that evening, and that spectators had criticized the prices and the walk from the nearest railway station, a mile away. A seat for Tuesday’s men’s 100m final cost £110 (about $150) with no concessions, against about €88 (about $100) for the equivalent in Rome in 2024. The cheapest weekday tickets were £26 (about $35), and a family-of-four package was £30 (about $40).

Birmingham 2026 said transport was suspended “until the necessary security measures had been carried out” and that operations returned to normal in the early hours of Sunday. European Athletics said before the closing session that “any issues connected with last night have now been fully resolved” and that it was safe to attend.

The championships closed that day with Alisa Vainio of Finland and Amanal Petros of Germany winning the marathons in championship records of 2:22:26 and 2:09:11, and with Amy Hunt taking a fourth gold in the mixed 4x100m relay. As of Monday, no announcement had been made about whether the six ceremonies went ahead, and police had not said whether the man had been charged or released.