From Mondo Duplantis to Janja Garnbret: Stars to watch at the 2022 European Championships in Munich

The second European multi-sport Championships gets underway Munich, Germany, on 11 August 2022 and during 11 action-packed days fans can expect records to be broken, historic achievements and incredible performances.

In the Bavarian capital several gold medallists from Tokyo 2020 in 2021 - some of them also newly crowned world champions - will delight the crowds across nine different Olympic sports disciplines.

Read on to find out who are the biggest stars to watch out for.

MORE: Top things to know about European Championships Munich 2022

Athletics (pole vault) - Mondo Duplantis: A new record at Munich 2022?

Fresh from his maiden world title at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, Sweden’s Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis is among the hottest athletes to watch at the Olympiastadion during the 2022 Euros.

The reigning Olympic and world pole vaulting champ comes to Munich to defend his continental title from Berlin 2018, less than one month after setting a new world record of 6.21m at the Hayward Field.

That was the first time that Duplantis broke the mark outdoors. The last athlete to do that was the legendary Sergey Bubka who cleared 6.14m in July 1994.

Should he win gold on the 20 August, the America-born star would win the third major title of a year started with a win at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. He would also hold all the world and continental crowns, indoor and outdoor.

After he soared centimetres over the bar in Oregon, will we see Mondo smashing his own record again?

How to watch Armand Duplantis at the 2022 European Championships in Munich

Venue: Olympiastadion

Times are local: Munich, Germany (CEST, which is GMT/UTC+2:00)

Thursday 18 August

10:50 Men’s Pole Vault Qualification

Saturday 20 August

20:05 Men’s Pole Vault Final

Cycling MTB - Tom Pidcock: Eyeing hat-trick of major titles

It’s been an eventful 2022 so far for cycling multi-disciplined talent Tom Pidcock of Great Britain.

In January, the Yorkshireman opened the season with a bang – and with a Superman-style pose celebration, winning gold at the cyclo-cross Worlds in Fayetteville, Arkansas. By doing so he completed his personal set of rainbow jerseys on the grasslands and sand (junior, U23, and elite).

Then followed an arduous Classics campaign, where the 22-year-old had to fight with illness, and still came away with a podium at the Dwars door Vlaanderen.

In May, Pidcock switched to mountain bike racing and claimed two consecutive World Cup wins, in Albstadt and Nove Mesto respectively. Finally in July the INEOS Grenadiers rider made his debut at the Tour de France, finishing 17th overall and taking the iconic road cycling stage at the Alpe d’Huez.

Now the Brit plans to reassert his dominance in MTB Cross-country, the discipline where he was crowned Olympic champion one year ago at the Izu course during the Tokyo Olympics. On his mind there’s a hat-trick of wins, starting with the European Championships on 19 August, followed by the Worlds, scheduled on the technical course of Les Gets, France, just a few days later.

READ: Tom Pidcock: Olympic MTB champion racing for cycling history

How to watch Tom Pidcock at the 2022 European Championships in Munich

Venue: Olympiapark

Times are local: Munich, Germany (CEST, which is GMT/UTC+2:00)

Friday 19 August

17:00-18:40 Men’s MTB cross country race

Sport Climbing (Lead, Boulder, Combined) - Janja Garnbret: Going for first European climbing crown since 2017

At just 23 years of age, Janja Garnbret is already the most successful competitive climber in history.

During her relatively short career the Slovenian has earned 36 World Cup wins to date and six world titles. She also claimed the sport’s inaugural combined Olympic gold medal.

After announcing a break from climbing in April, she mounted a comeback to the international series in June. Since then Garnbret has dominated all four lead World Cup events with wins in Innsbruck, Villars, Chamonix, and Briancon.

At the iconic venue of Konigsplatz in Munich city-centre, the climbing prodigy will chase three women's titles in Lead, Boulder, and the Boulder-Lead combined event, which will also feature at Paris 2024. Her first and only continental gold medal came in combined at the 2017 European Championships.

How to watch Janja Garnbret at the 2022 European Championships in Munich

Venue: Koningsplatz

Times are local: Munich, Germany (CEST, which is GMT/UTC+2:00)

Thursday 11 August

10:00-17:00

Women’s Lead Qualification

Friday 12 August

10:00-17:00

Women’s Boulder Qualification

Saturday 13 August

9:00 Women’s Lead Semifinals

16:00 Women’s Lead Final

Sunday 14 August

9:00 Women’s Boulder Semifinals

16:00 Women’s Boulder Final

Wednesday 17 August

15:00 Women’s Boulder and Lead Final: Boulder round

17:00 Women’s Boulder and Lead Final: Lead round

Athletics (long jump) - Malaika Mihambo: Pushing my limits

A lot of the expectations of the home fans are carried by long jump ace Malaika Mihambo, who’s considered as the poster girl of the multi-sport event in Munich. A role that she struggled to embrace four years ago in Berlin when, as an up-and-coming athlete, she claimed her first European title on home soil.

This time around the 28-year-old from Heidelberg is far more experienced and her trophy cabinet has significantly grown since then, after two world titles (the last one claimed in Oregon just a few weeks ago) and an Olympic gold medal won in Tokyo last year.

“I’ve learned so much during the last four years,” Mihambo told Olympics.com. “I had troubles with my technique and with believing in myself. I had to fight through all those depths and all the lows and that’s something that has made me grow up somehow. I’m now well prepared for the European Championships and looking forward to it. I think I’ll be able to enjoy it.”

After winning everything she could win in her discipline the German jumper is looking to improve her personal best (7.30m) and close in on the women's European and world record of 7.52 metres set by Soviet athlete Galina Chistyakova in 1988: “I want to grow further and improve myself, and to see how close I can come to those performances,” she added.

How to watch Malaika Mihambo at the 2022 European Championships in Munich

Venue: Olympiastadion

Times are local: Munich, Germany (CEST, which is GMT/UTC+2:00)

Tuesday 16 August

9:50 Women’s Long jump qualification

Thursday 18 August

20:58 Women’s Long jump final

Beach volleyball - Anders Mol and Christian Sorum: Chasing more history

Norway’s beach volleyball stars Anders Mol and Christian Sorum took over the European throne four years ago and they have of no intention of giving it up.

Last year in Vienna, just two weeks after claiming Olympic glory at Tokyo 2020, the pair became the first team to win four consecutive continental titles. In June they added a maiden world title to it, and now come to Munich as the hot favourites: “It would be completely crazy to do it five times in a row considering the level and the Europeans have in beach volleyball,” Mol told Olympics.com.

“The level is higher than ever in Europe," the 25-year-old added, "and the level has never been closer among the teams. So considering that it would be an incredible achievement, of course we are aiming for that. We really want to stay reigning European champions. We are reigning European champions, world champions, and Olympic champions. That is really nice to be able to say that.”

The Tokyo 2020 gold medallists have been drawn into Pool A along with fellow Norwegians Hendrik Mol/Mathias Berntsen, David Åhman/Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden, and Eylon Elazar/Netanel Ohana of Israel.

"We just love to play beach volleyball and that's why we now have Olympic gold,” said Mol.

“But we want to do so much more. Now we can't look back. We have to do that when we retire. We have so much more to give to the sport."

How to watch Anders Mol and Christian Sorum at the 2022 European Championships in Munich

Venue: Konigsplatz

Times are local: Munich, Germany (CEST, which is GMT/UTC+2:00)

Tuesday 16 August

10:00-20:00 Pool Games

Wednesday 17 August

10:00-22 Pool Games

Thursday 18 August

10:00-22:00 Round of 24

Friday 19 August

10:00-20:15

Round of 16

Saturday 20 August

11:15-20:00

Quarterfinals

Sunday 21 August

11:00-19:00

Semi-final

Bronze/Gold medal match

Athletics: Dina Asher-Smith

Six-time world athletics medallist Dina Asher-Smith of Team GB will get a chance to defend the three European titles she claimed at the event in 2018. Asher-Smith, 26, is scheduled to compete in the women's 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay in Munich.

Her appearance at the Europeans comes just weeks after she won bronze in the 200m at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Despite her bronze medal win, Asher-Smith came away from those championships slightly injured, having strained her hamstring during the relay event.

That injury caused her to skip the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.

But, now, she's back looking to add to her career European medal tally that currently stands at five golds and one silver.

"1 week until more of thisss 😍❤️‍🔥😮‍💨 can’t wait" she wrote on an Instagram post showing her sprinting out of the blocks.

How to watch Dina Asher-Smith at the 2022 European Championships in Munich

Times are local: Munich, Germany (CEST, which is GMT/UTC+2:00)

Monday 15 August

11:05 Women's 100m, first round

Tuesday 16 August

20:35 Women's 100m, semifinals
22:25 Women's 100m, final

Thursday 18 August

13:05 Women's 200m, first round
20:37 Women's 200m, semifinals

Friday 19 August

22:22 Women's 200m, final

Sunday 21 August

21:22 Women's 4x100m, final

How to watch the European Championships Munich 2022

For a detailed full schedule of the event, check out the official website here. (Please note the schedule is subject to change.)

The event will be available for television broadcast and livestream coverage in various regions. Further streaming details can be found on the Munich 2022 app.

You can also follow all the action via our social media and on Olympics.com.