There is just one evening session left of the Apeldoorn 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships, with Femke Bol and Jakob Ingebrigtsen looking for their second goal medals of the competition.
Here are five key storylines to follow ahead of the conclusion of day four in the Omnisport Arena.
Netherlands aim to add another relay gold
There is no coincidence that the women’s 4x400m final is the last event of the championships.
Just like Saturday night’s 400m final, which was won by home favourite Lieke Klaver, the organisers are anticipating that she will combine with Femke Bol for a thrilling end to the event to delight the viewing fans.
Klaver was rested for the mixed 4x400m title-winning performance but perhaps the pressure is off now that she has secured her first senior individual international title.
It may require a slip up from the Dutch for anyone else to contend, but Friday night’s bronze medallists Great Britain will likely have Amber Anning, who is looking to make up for her individual heat disqualification due to a lane infringement.
Also watch out for an improving Spanish team whose squad is likely to include Paula Sevilla, the bronze medallist in the individual 400m yesterday.
Ingebrigtsen aims for untouchable status
Having won the 1500m title on Friday night, Jakob Ingebrigtsen is looking to become a double gold medallist at three consecutive editions of these championships.
The Norwegian is aiming for a 17th European title across all surfaces and championships in what is already a phenomenal tally for someone who is still just 24-years-old.
He also has the chance to match the record of seven European indoor gold medals won by a male athlete. Valeriy Borzov holds that record, having won 50m and 60m titles in the 1970s, when the event was held annually.
Star-studded battle expected in women’s 60m
The women’s 60m sees defending champion and European leader Mujinga Kambundji continue her bid for her fourth continental title against Glasgow 2019 champion Ewa Swoboda, who the Swiss athlete beat in Istanbul.
Italy’s Zaynab Dosso will be eager to climb higher on the podium in Apeldoorn, having been third behind the Polish sprinter at the European Athletics Championships last year. Dosso began her campaign in eye-catching form with a 7.06 heat, the fastest ever heat in European indoor history.
Dosso was just 0.01 ahead of Luxembourg’s Patrizia van der Weken in Rome. The 25-year-old is eager to win their first ever European indoor medal, having lowered her own national record with a time of 7.07 in January.
All four of these women won their heats, with the remaining two rounds to come this evening.
800m could bring new names to the top step
Unlike the women’s 60m and men’s 1500m, the men’s and women’s 800m finals don’t have the same decorated list of household names vying for medals.
23-year-old Elvin Canales – who has been eligible for Spain since last summer – went sixth on the European indoor all-time list with 1:44.65 in January.
Belgium’s Eliott Crestan ran a very similar time of 1:44.69 last month. He already has a bronze medal from two years ago, but Canales is looking to keep the title in Spanish hands, following Adrian Ben’s photo finish victory over France’s Benjamin Robert in Istanbul.
The women’s final looks wide open, with Slovenia’s Anita Horvat, Poland’s Anna Wielgosz and Switzerland’s Audrey Werro within 0.04 of each other this year, all within the 2:00.3 range.
Karalis carries Greek hopes in pole vault
With Miltiadis Tentoglou having to pull out of these championships with flu, hopes of a Greek gold medal rest with pole vaulter Emmanouil Karalis who arrives fresh from a 6.02m clearance.
Karalis showed great consistency by winning medals at the World Athletics Indoor Championships, European Athletics Championships and Olympic Games last year, with all three competitions won by the unbreakable Swede Armand Duplantis.
But Duplantis’ absence from Apeldoorn will also be an invitation for Sondre Guttormsen to retain his title. The Norwegian triumphed on countback at Istanbul 2023, when all of the top four athletes each achieved the same height of 5.80m.
