# 1978 European Athletics Championships

The 12th European Athletics Championships were held from 29 August to 3 September 1978 in the Stadion Evžena Rošického in Prague, the capital city of Czechoslovakia (present-day Czech Republic). Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald.
There were a number of disqualifications because of infringements of IAAF doping rules resulting in 18-month bans for shot putter Yevgeniy Mironov, javelin thrower Vasiliy Yershov, and pentathletes Nadiya Tkachenko and Yekaterina Gordiyenko, all competing for the Soviet Union, as well as shot putter Elena Stoyanova from Bulgaria.

## Men's results

Complete results were published.

### Track

1971 |1974 |1978 |1982 |1986 |
| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Pietro Mennea Italy | 10.27 | Eugen Ray East Germany | 10.36 | Vladimir Ignatenko Soviet Union | 10.37 |
| 200 metres details | Pietro Mennea Italy | 20.16 CR | Olaf Prenzler East Germany | 20.61 | Peter Muster Switzerland | 20.64 |
| 400 metres details | Franz-Peter Hofmeister West Germany | 45.73 | Karel Kolář Czechoslovakia | 45.77 | Francis Demarthon France | 45.97 |
| 800 metres details | Olaf Beyer East Germany | 1:43.84 CR | Steve Ovett Great Britain | 1:44.09 | Sebastian Coe Great Britain | 1:44.76 |
| 1500 metres details | Steve Ovett Great Britain | 3:35.59 CR | Eamonn Coghlan Ireland | 3:36.57 | David Moorcroft Great Britain | 3:36.70 |
| 5000 metres details | Venanzio Ortis Italy | 13:28.57 | Markus Ryffel Switzerland Aleksandr Fedotkin Soviet Union | 13:28.66 | | |
| 10,000 metres details | Martti Vainio Finland | 27:30.99 CR, NR | Venanzio Ortis Italy | 27:31.48 | Aleksandras Antipovas Soviet Union | 27:31.50 |
| Marathon details | Leonid Moseyev Soviet Union | 2:11:57.5 CR | Nikolay Penzin Soviet Union | 2:11:59.0 | Karel Lismont Belgium | 2:12:07.7 |
| 110 metres hurdles details | Thomas Munkelt East Germany | 13.54 | Jan Pusty Poland | 13.55 | Arto Bryggare Finland | 13.56 |
| 400 metres hurdles details | Harald Schmid West Germany | 48.51 CR | Dmitriy Stukalov Soviet Union | 49.72 | Vasyl Arkhypenko Soviet Union | 49.77 |
| 3000 metres steeplechase details | Bronislaw Malinowski Poland | 8:15.08 | Patriz Ilg West Germany | 8:16.92 | Ismo Toukonen Finland | 8:18.29 |
| 20 kilometres walk details | Roland Wieser East Germany | 1:23:11.5 CR | Pyotr Pochynchuk Soviet Union | 1:23:43.0 | Anatoliy Solomin Soviet Union | 1:24:11.5 |
| 50 kilometres walk details | Jorge Llopart Spain | 3:53:29.9 CR | Veniamin Soldatenko Soviet Union | 3:55:12.1 | Jan Ornoch Poland | 3:55:15.9 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | Poland Zenon Nowosz Zenon Licznerski Leszek Dunecki Marian Woronin | 38.58 CR | East Germany Manfred Kokot Eugen Ray Olaf Prenzler Alexander Thieme | 38.78 | Soviet Union Sergey Vladimirtsev Nikolay Kolesnikov Aleksandr Aksinin Vladimir Ignatenko | 38.82 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | West Germany Martin Weppler Franz-Peter Hofmeister Bernd Herrmann Harald Schmid | 3:02.03 CR | Poland Jerzy Włodarczyk Zbigniew Jaremski Cezary Łapiński Ryszard Podlas | 3:03.62 | Czechoslovakia Josef Lomický František Brečka Miroslav Tulis Karel Kolář | 3:04.99 |
* $^{nb1}$ Pietro Mennea ran 10.19 in the heats, which was a new championship record.

### Field

1971 |1974 |1978 |1982 |1986 |
| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| High jump details | Vladimir Yashchenko Soviet Union | 2.30 m CR | Aleksandr Grigoryev Soviet Union | 2.28 m | Rolf Beilschmidt East Germany | 2.28 m |
| Pole vault details | Vladimir Trofimenko Soviet Union | 5.55 m CR | Antti Kalliomäki Finland | 5.50 m | Rauli Pudas Finland | 5.45 m |
| Long jump details | Jacques Rousseau France | 8.18 m CR | Nenad Stekić Yugoslavia | 8.12 m | Vladimir Tsepelyov Soviet Union | 8.01 m |
| Triple jump details | Miloš Srejović Yugoslavia | 16.94 m | Viktor Saneyev Soviet Union | 16.93 m | Anatoliy Piskulin Soviet Union | 16.87 m |
| $^†$Shot put details | Udo Beyer East Germany | 21.08 m =CR | Aleksandr Baryshnikov Soviet Union | 20.68 m | Wolfgang Schmidt East Germany | 20.30 m |
| Discus throw details | Wolfgang Schmidt East Germany | 66.82 m CR | Markku Tuokko Finland | 64.90 m | Imrich Bugár Czechoslovakia | 64.66 m |
| Hammer throw details | Yuriy Sedykh Soviet Union | 77.28 m CR | Roland Steuk East Germany | 77.24 m | Karl-Hans Riehm West Germany | 77.02 m |
| Javelin throw details | Michael Wessing West Germany | 89.12 m | Nikolay Grebniev Soviet Union | 87.82 m | Wolfgang Hanisch East Germany | 87.66 m |
| Decathlon details | Aleksandr Grebenyuk Soviet Union | 8340 pts CR | Daley Thompson Great Britain | 8289 pts | Siegfried Stark East Germany | 8208 pts |
$^†$: In shot put, Yevgeniy Mironov initially finished second (20.87m), but was disqualified for an infringement of IAAF doping rules.

## Women's results
### Track

1971 |1974 |1978 |1982 |1986 |
| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Marlies Göhr East Germany | 11.13 =CR | Linda Haglund Sweden | 11.29 | Lyudmila Maslakova Soviet Union | 11.31 |
| 200 metres details | Lyudmila Kondratyeva Soviet Union | 22.52 | Marlies Göhr East Germany | 22.53 | Carla Bodendorf East Germany | 22.64 |
| 400 metres details | Marita Koch East Germany | 48.94 WR – CR | Christina Brehmer East Germany | 50.38 | Irena Szewińska Poland | 50.40 |
| 800 metres details | Tatyana Providokhina Soviet Union | 1:55.80 CR | Nadezhda Mushta Soviet Union | 1:55.82 | Zoya Rigel Soviet Union | 1:56.57 |
| 1500 metres details | Giana Romanova Soviet Union | 3:59.01 CR | Natalia Mărășescu Romania | 3:59.77 | Totka Petrova Bulgaria | 4:00.15 |
| 3000 metres details | Svetlana Ulmasova Soviet Union | 8:33.16 CR | Natalia Mărășescu Romania | 8:33.53 | Grete Waitz Norway | 8:34.33 |
| 100 metres hurdles details | Johanna Klier East Germany | 12.62 | Tatyana Anisimova Soviet Union | 12.67 | Gudrun Berend East Germany | 12.73 |
| 400 metres hurdles details | Tatyana Zelentsova Soviet Union | 54.89 | Silvia Hollmann West Germany | 55.14 | Karin Roßley East Germany | 55.36 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | Vera Anisimova Lyudmila Maslakova Lyudmila Kondratyeva Lyudmila Storozhkova Soviet Union | 42.54 | Beverley Goddard Kathy Smallwood Sharon Colyear Sonia Lannaman Great Britain | 42.72 | Johanna Klier Monika Hamann Carla Bodendorf Marlies Göhr East Germany | 43.07 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | Christiane Marquardt Barbara Krug Christina Brehmer Marita Koch East Germany | 3:21.20 CR | Tatyana Prorochenko Nadezhda Mushta Tatyana Providokhina Mariya Kulchunova Soviet Union | 3:22.53 | Małgorzata Grajewska Krystyna Kacperczyk Genowefa Błaszak Irena Szewińska Poland | 3:26.76 |
* $^{nb1}$ Grażyna Rabsztyn (Poland), who was disqualified in the final, ran a championship record of 12.60 in the semifinal.

### Field

1971 |1974 |1978 |1982 |1986 |
| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| High jump details | Sara Simeoni Italy | 2.01 m WR= – CR | Rosemarie Ackermann East Germany | 1.99 m | Brigitte Holzapfel West Germany | 1.95 m |
| Long jump details | Vilma Bardauskienė Soviet Union | 6.88 m | Angela Voigt East Germany | 6.79 m | Jarmila Nygrýnová Czechoslovakia | 6.69 m |
| Shot put details | Ilona Slupianek East Germany | 21.41 m CR | Helena Fibingerová Czechoslovakia | 20.86 m | Margitta Droese East Germany | 20.58 m |
| Discus throw details | Evelin Jahl East Germany | 66.98 m | Margitta Droese East Germany | 64.04 m | Natalya Gorbachova Soviet Union | 63.58 m |
| Javelin throw details | Ruth Fuchs East Germany | 69.16 m CR | Tessa Sanderson Great Britain | 62.40 m | Ute Hommola East Germany | 62.32 m |
| $^‡$Pentathlon details | Margit Papp Hungary | 4655 pts | Burglinde Pollak East Germany | 4600 pts | Kristine Nitzsche East Germany | 4599 pts |
$^‡$: In pentathlon, Nadiya Tkachenko (URS) initially finished 1st (4744pts), but was disqualified for an infringement of IAAF doping rules.
* $^{nb1}$ Vilma Bardauskienė broke the world record with a jump 7.09 metres in the qualification round.

## Medal table

* Host nation (Czechoslovakia)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Soviet Union (URS) | 12 | 12 | 10 | 34 |
| 2 | East Germany (GDR) | 12 | 10 | 11 | 33 |
| 3 | West Germany (FRG) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| 4 | Italy (ITA) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 5 | Poland (POL) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 6 | Great Britain (GBR) | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| 7 | Finland (FIN) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 8 | Yugoslavia (YUG) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | France (FRA) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | Hungary (HUN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | Spain (ESP) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Czechoslovakia (TCH)* | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 13 | Romania (ROU) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 14 | Switzerland (SUI) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 15 | Ireland (IRL) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Belgium (BEL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 | Norway (NOR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (19 entries) | Totals (19 entries) | 40 | 41 | 39 | 120 |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 847 athletes from 30 countries participated in the event, 157 athletes less than the official number of 1004, and one country more than the official number of 29 as published. The significantly higher official number might include coaches and/or officials.
* Austria (11)
* Belgium (31)
* Bulgaria (24)
* Cyprus (1)
* Czechoslovakia (82)
* Denmark (10)
* East Germany (72)
* Finland (33)
* France (51)
* Gibraltar (1)
* Greece (13)
* Hungary (25)
* Iceland (5)
* Ireland (9)
* Italy (43)
* Liechtenstein (2)
* Luxembourg (6)
* Netherlands (25)
* Norway (16)
* Poland (46)
* Portugal (4)
* Romania (24)
* Soviet Union (92)
* Spain (16)
* Sweden (31)
* Switzerland (21)
* Turkey (5)
* Great Britain (69)
* West Germany (64)
* Yugoslavia (14)