The Apeldoorn 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships are heading into their third evening session (8), with Lieke Klaver’s Dutch home support expecting 400m gold.
Here are five key storylines to follow ahead of the conclusion of day three in the Omnisport Arena.
Dutch hopes in the hands of Klaver
After a dominant win in Friday’s semifinals, Dutchwoman Lieke Klaver comes in as the fastest qualifier and favourite for the women’s 400m final.
Klaver has won Olympic, world and European gold medals in relays for the Netherlands, but she has never stood on the top step of the podium individually.
And with Femke Bol, who was watching her training partner from the stands in yesterday’s semifinals, focusing on the relay, this is the time and the place for Klaver to upgrade her silver medals from the 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships and 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships.
The European leader Henriette Jaeger is also a contender but the 21-year-old Norwegian was beaten by Spain’s Paula Sevilla in her semifinal.
Berlin 2018 European outdoor champion Justyna Swiety-Ersetic, who also has an Olympic title to her name from the mixed 4x400m from Tokyo 2020, will be looking to draw on her vast experience and win her ninth European medal.
Heptathlon battle set for thrilling conclusion
It is European heptathlon record-holder Sander Skotheim against world indoor champion Simon Ehammer in the heptathlon who holds a 50-point advantage going into the 1000m.
The Swiss athlete built an early advantage on the first day, only for the Norwegian to lead by 42 points overnight after clearing 2.19m in the high jump. That equals the championship best he set in Istanbul in 2023.
Ehammer reversed that to 50 points in his favour after this morning’s 60m hurdles, showing his trademark dexterity over the hurdles with 7.68, the fastest time of the day. The pole vault continued for over two hours with Ehammer and Skotheim both clearing 5.10m with European outdoor champion Johannes Erm continuing his steady progress up the ranks with a 5.30m clearance to keep his medal hopes alive in fourth overall.
In the final discipline of seven, Skotheim’s 2:33.23 personal best is worth 950 points, while Ehammer’s 2:46.03 equates to just 808 points. Can he keep Skotheim in his sights in the 1000m to keep hold of the title?
Whatever happens, a championship and European record – as well as a winning score of over 6500 points – are all firmly on the cards.
Molnar favourite for men’s 400m title
Hungary’s Attila Molnar is yet to be beaten in 2025. He set a national record on a short track of 45.08 in Ostrava last month, which is more than 0.6 faster than anyone else competing in Apeldoorn and only 0.03 shy of the European record held jointly by East Germany’s Thomas Schonlebe and Norway’s Karsten Warholm.
The last time a Hungarian won gold on the track at these championships goes back to sprint hurdler György Bakos in Piraeus in 1985, with Anita Marton picking up shot put titles in the field in 2015 and 2017.
Poland’s Maksymilian Szwed was the other semifinal winner on Friday while Olympic 4x400m mixed relay champion Isiah Klein Ikkink of the Netherlands is bound to get the biggest support from the crowd in the stadium.
Wide open men’s 60m contest awaits
The first of the 60m finals is tonight, with reigning champion Samuele Ceccarelli among those to progress from the heats.
But the Italian was only fourth in his heat and the event could therefore be wide open, with this evening’s semifinals required to produce a clearer picture of what could happen.
Swedish record-holder Henrik Larsson – who was third behind Ceccarelli in 2023 – won his heat in a time of 6.59.
Great Britain’s Jeremiah Azu was fractionally the fastest qualifier in 6.58 and he is going in search of a first senior individual title, having won European 4x100m gold at Munich 2022 and two European U23 100m titles.
Moser looking for third European pole vault title
It was something of a surprise when a then 23-year-old Angelica Moser won her first European pole vault title in Torun in 2021.
But the Swiss athlete has since added European outdoor gold, beating the likes of former Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi of Greece and Great Britain’s world indoor champion Molly Caudery last summer in Rome.
She also improved the Swiss record to 4.88m last year. As a result, she is the favourite for gold, with Caudery having withdrawn last week due to a minor calf injury.
Among the other contenders are France’s European U23 champion Marie-Julie Bonnin, who has cleared 4.71m this year, and the highly experienced Tina Sutej.
The Slovenian has been the runner-up at the last two editions of these championships, including behind Moser four years ago.
