European Athletics
The European Athletics Championships is the most significant athletics event in Europe.
Software development, Pre-Event Simulations, User-Centric Interface Design, Interactive Features and Enhanced Live Support
EUROPEAN ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
OVERVIEW
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Challenges
The European Athletics Championships’ scale presented unique challenges. With multiple competitions over several days, sometimes even up to eight competitions occurring simultaneously, the complexity of delivering timely and accurate information was immense.
The main challenge was to enhance the performance of the website, speed up data delivery for widgets, optimise images, and simplify content management so editors could easily publish updates.
Additionally, integrating various third-party services smoothly and ensuring robust failover systems were in place in case any third-party service failed were critical to providing uninterrupted user experiences.
Our technical team had to manage high traffic and data throughput efficiently during the event. Implementing a middleware over the data sources, caching CMS data to maintain availability, and establishing a comprehensive infrastructure failover plan were key components. The system was designed to handle multiple event simulations to anticipate and correct any potential issues before they occurred.
The project also included extensive load testing, live result testing, continuous monitoring, and rapid intervention capabilities during the event.
Solutions
We developed and deployed a robust digital infrastructure that included live results widgets, streaming services, and dynamic content updates, all optimized for high performance and reliability. Our middleware solution effectively managed data flow, while our caching strategy ensured that even in the event of a CMS failure, data would remain available.
The integration of third-party services was streamlined with failover systems rigorously tested to handle any interruptions seamlessly.
The infrastructure featured advanced backup strategies, data replication, redundancy planning, and comprehensive risk assessments.
Our monitoring and alerting systems were finely tuned to detect and address issues proactively.
By conducting multiple pre-event simulations, we fine-tuned the entire system to ensure flawless execution during the live event, thereby significantly reducing the risk of downtime or data inaccuracy.
EUROPEAN ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
PROJECT’S CHALLENGES
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UX/UI Challenges
(A) Creating an intuitive, user-friendly interface that caters to diverse user groups, including fans, media and member federations.
(B) Also, delivering a consistent, brand-aligned user experience across the website and mobile apps while managing a vast amount of content in a mobile-first approach requires innovative design solutions.
Therefore, we embraced a cloud-only strategy, utilizing SaaS solutions with an emphasis on and platform-agnostic development.
Utilizing Directus for CMS, the project will continue on its cloud infrastructure, supported by a React framework for the front-end, employing a combination of SSG and SSR.
The technical infrastructure is designed to be resilient, with full back-end and front-end deployment chains across Development, Staging, and Production environments, ensuring faultless core operations and high performance.
EUROPEAN ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
INNOVATIVE FEATURES
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Innovations
To further enhance engagement, retention, app usage, and revenue streams for the European Athletics platform, especially during off-event periods, we are implementing the following innovative feature ideas:
/ A
Interactive Content & Gamification
/ B
Augmented Reality (AR) Experiences
/ C
Membership & Loyalty Program
/ D
Sponsor-Driven Challenges and Rewards
/ E
Athlete-Led Workshops and Webinars
/ F
Fantasy Athletics Leagues
/ G
Custom Notification & Content Feeds
/ H
Subscription-based Premium Content
..and more
EUROPEAN ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
PROJECT’S RESULTS
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Results
Implementing these solutions at the European Athletics Championships resulted in a highly successful event from a technical standpoint
This project not only supported the seamless execution of a major athletics event but also set a new standard for managing large-scale sports events digitally.