Your 7-day TV guide
WHAT a summer of sport it has been.
England made it all the way to the semis at the FIFA World Cup, Novak Djokovic triumphed for the fourth time at Wimbledon and Scotland’s cricket team completed a historic victory over the best ODI team in the world, England.
Indeed, we’ve been treated to some great sporting moments during these long, hot months.
But the fun hasn’t stopped just yet, and although the football season kicks off this weekend and next, signalling the slow move into autumn, there is still time for us to enjoy the inaugural European Championships, a multi-sports event billed as a ‘celebration of European sport’, which got under way yesterday.
The city of Glasgow and the surrounding area is hosting six sports – aquatics, cycling, golf, gymnastics, rowing and triathlon, while Berlin is staging the athletics – and the BBC will be covering all the action.
After yesterday’s qualifying events, the action starts in earnest this morning, as Hazel Irvine presents the swimming heats and rowing repechages and semi-finals at Strathclyde Country Park.
Great Britain’s World and Olympic champion Adam Peaty is among the star names set to compete when he lines up for the 100m breaststroke.
Peaty holds the world record in the discipline and is stepping up his ‘Project 56’ bid as he aims to become the first swimmer to dip below 57 seconds. His main rival may well be teammate Ross Murdoch, the reigning European champion over 200m, who finished second to Peaty in the 100m at the same games.
Also taking place in the pool is the preliminary stage of the synchronised swimming team event.
This afternoon, Clare Balding takes over presenting duties, as track cycling takes centre stage at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.
British duo Neah Evans and Emily Kay will be looking to build on their respective silver and bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games in the women’s scratch race, and the men’s and women’s team sprints also get under way.
Then in the evening, Peaty and Murdoch are likely to be in the pool again for the 100m breaststroke semi-finals, while another British star, Hannah Miley is expected to battle it out with Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu in the women’s individual 400m medley final.
Proud Scot Miley is sure to be backed by the home crowd as the three-time Olympian and two-time Commonwealth champion looks to add to her impressive collection.
Swimming medals are also handed out in the men’s 400m freestyle and men’s and women’s 4x100m freestyle relay tonight, and five track cycling titles will be awarded, with Olympic goldmedalists Team GB, whose line-up could feature Laura Kenny, Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker and Emily Nelson, hoping to be in contention along with European champions Italy, in the women’s team pursuit.
It should be an exciting way to end the first proper day of what will undoubtedly be a enjoyable week and a half during this memorable British sporting summer.