The Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sportpark will host the European Para Athletics Championships in 2018 ©Getty Images

Berlin has been announced as the host of the 2018 European Para Athletics Championships by the sport’s governing body International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics.

The decision coincides with the opening day of the penultimate IPC Athletics Grand Prix of the season in the German capital, which has held the event at the Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sportpark since 2013.

It will now welcome around 600 athletes to the European Championships, which are due to be held between August 20 and 26 in 2018.

“We are very excited that the 2018 European Para Athletics Championships will be staged in the German capital, a city with an excellent track record for staging major athletics events,” said Ryan Montgomery, IPC director of summer sports.

“The Championships will take place with roughly two years to go until the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and will be one of the biggest Para athletics events of the year.

“As a result, I’m expecting some extremely strong competition with Paralympic champions from this September’s Rio Games locking horns with world champions from next year’s event in London.

“This venue has successfully staged Grand Prix events for the last four years and has a reputation for delivering fast times and long distances.

“We have seen a number of world and regional records broken in Berlin over the last few years, and I expect to see many more in 2018 as the performance level of Para athletes continues to increase."

Around 600 athletes are expected to attend the Championships in 2018 ©Getty Images
Around 600 athletes are expected to attend the Championships in 2018 ©Getty Images

The Championships are being jointly organised by IPC Athletics, the National Paralympic Committee of Germany and Behinderten-und Rehabilitations-Sportband Berlin, a sports rehabilitation organisation.

It will be the sixth edition of the event, which is held every two years and was last staged in the Italian town of Grosseto in June.

Russia finished top of the medals table at the Championships, with a total of 36 countries represented.

“We are glad and proud that the German capital will host the next European Championships in 2018 – a competition that will take place exactly between the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games,” said Friedhelm Julius Beucher, German NPC President.

The decision will also mean that Berlin will host the para-athletics and the European Athletics Championships in the same year.

 The latter is being held as part of the inaugural European Championships, which will see seven sports featured across host cities Berlin and Glasgow.