Less than five months before the European Athletics Indoor Championships, and in the week of the Valencian Community Day (9), Valencia 2027 presents medals inspired, by the silk of the traditional fallera dress.
The Local Organising Committee unveiled the medals that will be awarded to the athletes on the podium. The championships will be held from 4-7 March 2027 at the Velòdrom Lluís Puig.
The design is a tribute to the city, its history, its culture and its people. Leaving behind the traditional round shape, each medal becomes a sculptural piece that brings together the curves of the track and one of Valencia's most recognisable symbols: the fallera dress.
Victory and Valencia in a single letter
At the heart of the design is a large V that crosses the medal diagonally. Its meaning is twofold: V for Victory, the goal of every athlete who steps onto the track, and V for Valencia, the host city.
The year 2027 is engraved in relief along the V, while a vertical band on the left displays the name of Valencia. The championships logo sits in the lower right-hand corner.
The semi-circular silhouette also has Valencian roots. It combines the event's visual identity with the outline of the peineta, the ornamental comb that crowns the hairstyle of the fallera costume. Inside, a series of concentric curves evokes the lanes of an athletics track.
Fallera silk, turned into relief
The floral pattern along the V reproduces the embroidered and brocaded silks of the fallera dress, worn during Las Fallas, Valencia's most iconic celebration. These fabrics have been part of the city's heritage for centuries.
For generations, Valencia was one of Europe's great silk centres. That past lives on in La Lonja de la Seda, the Silk Exchange, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996, and in every fallera costume today.
To bring the fabric into metal, the design team identified four key elements: the curved branch, for fluidity and movement; the main flower, for identity and elegance; the small details, for rhythm and connection; and the texture, reflecting the richness of the tradition.
The motifs were first redrawn and then adapted to relief, with simplified shapes to ensure legibility. The result reflects the three ideas behind the whole process: identity, pride and tradition.
Gold, silver and bronze, with the European Athletics seal
The medals will be plated in gold, silver and bronze, with the same design for all three. The smooth reverse features the European Athletics logo and a space reserved for engraving.
Each medal will hang from a blue ribbon carrying the championships' branding, whose curved lines once again echo the track.
A medal with the soul of 9 d'Octubre
The unveiling coincides with the Valencian Community's main holiday. Every 9 October, Valencians commemorate King Jaume I's entry into the city in 1238 and the birth of the Kingdom of Valencia, celebrating their identity, language and traditions.
Valencia 2027 wants its medals to carry that identity to the whole of Europe, just as its official slogan, “Ignite the Track”, draws on Las Fallas and the passion with which Valencia lives its celebrations.
The athletes who climb the podium at the Velòdrom Lluís Puig in March 2027 will take home more than a reward for their effort: a piece of Valencian history, culture and craftsmanship.