No shot putter in the world this year has sent their implement over 22 metres, but Leonardo Fabbri has gone the closest and the Italian will be looking to add another continental title to his collection at the Apeldoorn 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships which start on Thursday (6).
Fabbri memorably took the European outdoor crown in front of adoring home fans in Rome 2024. After a productive stint training in South Africa this winter, he is now on a four-meeting winning streak which has included beating the best that European has to offer.
Among the quartet of wins was a victory at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Lievin, France two weeks ago when he reached a world-leading 21.95m which, in addition to his 2024 track record, makes him the favourite in Apeldoorn.
“I’m very happy because finally, on a technical level, I had some good sensations, which I had been looking for a long time since the start of the winter,” reflected Fabbri after Lievin.
“I made a couple of long fouls, over 22 metres, and I would have done it if I had a little more freshness in my legs. I am regaining a lot of confidence and now comes the best part, I really want to throw far,” he added ominously for his rivals.
It could well be an Italian one-two in in Apeldoorn as his compatriot, friend and Istanbul 2023 winner Zane Weir is just one rung below him on the 2025 European shot put list.
At the recent Italian Indoor Championships, Weir finished second to Fabbri – as he has in their last four competitions although he did beat him in Ostrava in early February – but gave him a scare as he unleashed a season’s best of 21.76m, just nine centimetres shy of Fabbri’s winning 21.85m.
Former champions Poland’s Konrad Bukowiecki and Czechia’s Tomas Stanek, from 2017 and 2021 respectively, are also in the field and will be aiming to get among the medals again.
Italy topped the Roma 2024 medal table spurred on by an ecstatic home audience in the Olympic Stadium and while it might be a tall order for them to the Azzurri to repeat that feat in the Omnisport Apeldoorn further medals could come in the long jump.
Can Furlani win first senior title?
In one of the most anticipated field events of the four days of action, Italy’s Mattia Furlani will be aiming for his first international senior title and with Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou absent with illness, his moment may have arrived.
Furlani, who just turned 20 last month, is the man of the moment having jumped a world-leading and Italian indoor best – with the introduction of short track records indoor marks are no longer considered separately for the indoor field events – of 8.37m in Torun on 16 February.
The distance was only one centimetre off Furlani’s lifetime best and the world U20 record of 8.38m that he achieved when taking the silver medal in Rome last summer.
In Poland, he also beat Tentoglou, who was second with 8.03m, for the first time after having finished behind him in their previous 13 encounters.
One of the clashes of the championships! 🔥
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) February 27, 2025
🇬🇷 Miltiadis Tentoglou 🆚 🇮🇹 Mattia Furlani
Who is winning the long jump title in #Apeldoorn2025? 👀 pic.twitter.com/LhYPvteRwW
Striving not to be overshadowed in the event will be Sweden’s Thomas Montler, who has taken the silver medal behind Tentoglou at the last three editions of the European Athletics Indoor Championships.
Montler stands second on the 2025 European indoor list with his 8.23m winning mark in Belgrade at the end of January and has been over eight metres in all bar one of his six outings this winter.
Karalis aiming to finally get gold
With Armand Duplantis not contesting the pole vault in Apeldoorn, Istanbul 2023 silver medallist Karalis will rarely have a better chance of taking a major senior title to add to his 2016 European U18 crown.
In little more than a week, the Roma 2024 silver medallist and Paris 2024 bronze medallist has gone clear at two outright Greek records.
Firstly, Karalis jumped 6.01m at the Greek Indoor Championships on 22 February and then he went over 6.02m when finishing second to Duplantis in Clermont-Ferrand, France on Friday before the Swedish superstar scaled a world record 6.27m.
Also in fine form on home turf were the French trio of Thibaut Collet, Renaud Lavillenie and Baptiste Thierry, all of whom cleared 5.91m in Clermont-Ferrand. For four-time gold medallist Lavillenie who is making his first appearance at the European Athletics Indoor Championships since 2015, his 5.91m clearance also corresponded to a world over-35 record.
Collet’s father and coach Philippe won a European indoor bronze in 1986 and will be on hand to urge his son onto greater things after the latter crashed out in qualifying at Istanbul 2023.
Türkiye has never won a men’s field event medal in the 45-year history of the European Athletics Indoor Championships but Ersu Sasma has a good chance to end that draught after twice equalling his national record of 5.90m in February.
Norway’s defending champion Sondre Guttormsen is also in the field and should also be considered a medal contender after having cleared 5.85m this winter.
Hess looking to move up the podium
German triple jumper Max Hess has had the unusual streak of finishing third at no less than the last four editions of the European Athletics Indoor Championships but has a great chance to move up the podium in Apeldoorn.
He leads the 2025 world list with 17.41m that he reached in Metz, France in early February, the second longest jump of his career behind his lifetime best of 17.52m which dates from the qualifying round of the 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
However, lurking directly below Hess on the 2025 world list are the Italian duo of former European U23 gold medallist Andrea Dallavalle and 2024 Olympic Games bronze medallist Andy Diaz who have jumped 17.36m and 17.31m respectively this winter.
Ukraine also with high hopes in the men's high jump
Oleh Doroshchuk could set the stage for a memorable Ukrainian high jump double in Apeldoorn as the final of the men’s event is the day before the women’s final, which would be expected to include the European Athlete of the Year and world record-holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh.
Doroshchuk, the Roma 2024 bronze medallist, went over a personal best of 2.32m at the Ukraine Indoor Championships and has been consistently in good form at all four of his indoor competitions this year.
The only European to beat him this winter has been Czechia’s Jan Stefela, who flew over 2.30m before having two good attempts at 2.34m to win at the Trinec high jump meeting in his home country in early February.
Stefela suffered minor ankle problems on his next outing in Hustopece on 8 February, also in Czechia, and has not competed since. "However, I think Im ready at 120 percent. We healed succesfully the injured ankle," Stefela confirmed at the end of last week.
Israel’s Yonathan Kapitolnik, the 2021 world and European U20 gold medallist, cleared a personal best of 2.31m outdoors in Tel Aviv in January and could also bid for a very rare medal for his country at these championships.
Phil Minshull for European Athletics