The women’s 60m will see defending champion and European leader Mujinga Kambundji bid for her fourth continental title at the European Athletics Indoor Championships on 6-9 March in Apeldoorn.
The Swiss athlete - who also defended her European 200m gold in Rome last summer - is set to face Poland’s Ewa Swoboda, who was the 60m runner-up at the last edition of the event in Istanbul in 2023.
Swoboda - the European 100m silver medallist - is looking to regain the title that she won at Glasgow 2019 and pick up her fourth European indoor medal in total. She also won silver in the short dash in Belgrade 2017.
Italy’s Zaynab Dosso will be eager to climb higher on the podium in Apeldoorn, having been third behind Swoboda at both the World Athletics Indoor Championships and European Athletics Championships last year.
The pair were given the same 100m time of 11.03 in Rome, just 0.01 ahead of Luxembourg’s Patrizia van der Weken. The 25-year-old was the first woman from her country to make a track final at the event and she is now fired up at the prospect of winning their first ever European indoor medal, having broken her own national record to run a time of 7.07 on home soil in January.
Of the outside contenders for a medal, Germany’s Alexandra Burghardt (7.13), Spain’s Maria Isabel Perez (7.15) and Great Britain’s Bianca Williams (7.16)have all set their fastest ever times this year. For Perez, her time at the Spanish Indoor Championships was also an improvement on her national record.
Visser looking for third European Indoor hurdles title
The 60m hurdles brings the chance of a third European indoor title for Dutch home favourite Nadine Visser, who faces a stacked field of decorated athletes.
Visser, a former heptathlete, won gold at Glasgow 2019 and Torun 2021, before coming second behind Finland’s reigning and defending champion Reetta Hurske in Istanbul.
2022 European 100m hurdles champion Pia Skrzyszowska is also among the contenders having also won a bronze at last year's World Athletics Indoor Championships.
But none of these women lead the European list this year. That position is held by Laeticia Bapte of France, who ran a stunning time of 7.76 in the semifinals of the French Indoor Championships in Miramas to put her joint seventh on the European all-time list. Bapte, 26, is yet to win a medal at a major championship.
Second on the 2025 European list is Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji, who improved her national record to 7.80 last month in Torun. Mujinga’s younger sister is looking for her first senior international title, while these championships present an opportunity for multiple medals to be won by the Kambundji family for a fourth consecutive European Championships, across indoors and outdoors.
German duo Marlene Meier and Rosina Schneider have improved their lifetime bests this year to 7.92 and 7.96 respectively, but such times have been agonisingly outside of the medals at the last two editions of these championships.
Can Klaver step up to 400m gold without Bol?
With Femke Bol focusing on the relays, there is an opportunity for fellow Dutchwoman Lieke Klaver to step up to the gold medal, having been second behind her compatriot at both the European and World Athletics Indoor Championships over the last two years.
Klaver, who has 14 senior international medals including indoors, outdoors and relays, comes into the event third place on the European list this year. That is the same position in which she finished at last year’s European Athletics Championships in Rome, behind Poland’s Natalia Bukowiecka and Rhasidat Adeleke, who are absent from Apeldoorn.
But perhaps what is most exciting about this event is the potential that it will offer a glimpse of the next generation that could win European 400m medals for years to come.
The progress of 21-year-old Henriette Jaeger over the last year has been exciting to follow as the European leader has eclipsed the Norwegian records for 200m and 400m and made European and Olympic finals.
The same could be said of 24-year-old Brit Amber Anning, who has two Olympic relay medals, having taken over 2008 Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu’s British 400m record, with a time of 49.29 to finish fifth in Paris.
Jaeger’s 50.44 indoor best in Torun last month is just 0.01 off Anning’s 50.43 indoor best, which was set last year in Arkansas.
But Czechia’s Lurdes Gloria Manuel has done something that Klaver, Jaeger and Anning never managed, which is to win an individual title at U20 level.
The 19-year-old has shown incredible maturity in learning the 400m event, improving her outright best to 50.52 to finish fourth in Rome last June, in between winning European U20 and World U20 gold over the last 18 months.
Spanish pair Paula Sevilla and Bianca Hervas are among those who will be hoping to make it through the rounds, having improved their indoor bests to 51.20 and 51.44 this year.
2018 European outdoor champion Justyna Swiety-Ersetic is another notable entrant and arrives in good form having recently beaten Bukowiecka at the Polish Indoor Championships. She is set to compete at her 11th European Championships across indoors and outdoors with her first appearance dating all the way back to Helsinki 2012.
Bol is back in the relays
The finals of both the women’s 4x400m and the inaugural mixed 4x400m relay will see all eyes on Dutchwoman Femke Bol, who has elected to concentrate solely on the team events in Apeldoorn.
At the age of 25, Bol already has 22 senior international medals. Relays account for half of those, including gold medals in the women’s 4x400m at both of the last two European Championships indoors and outdoors, stretching back to Torun 2021.
That could give the two finals a similar feel, especially as the only difference in line-ups between them is expected to be France in the women’s event and Belgium in the mixed competition, with Ireland, Great Britain, Spain and Czechia joining the Netherlands in both.
Ireland may be without European 400m silver medallist Rhasidat Adeleke, but they will hope to make use of Sharlene Mawdsley’s speed as they look to add to their sensational gold medal in Rome, which was the first time the mixed relay had been part of the European Athletics Championships.
Belgium’s record and depth of talent in the longer relays means they always stand some chance of getting on the podium, perhaps even more so given that they have elected to concentrate just on the mixed 4x400m. European 400m champion Alexander Doom is absent, but Jonathan Sacoor and Dylan Borlee are in their relay selection pool, along with Camille Laus and Helena Ponette.
Great Britain have often used the indoor season to give new talent a chance over 4x400m. That could pay dividends in respect of Anning’s experience, given that she was part of the team who won silver at Glasgow 2019, when she was just 18. Lina Nielsen and Hannah Kelly, who were part of the squad that won bronze medals at both the Olympic Games and World Athletics Indoor Championships last year, could be key to their medal chances here.
With Vit Muller, Lurdes Gloria Manuel and Lada Vondrova, Czechia have three out of the four athletes who triumphed in the mixed relay at the 2023 European Athletics Team Championships.
France were outside the medals in fifth in the women’s 4x400m in Rome last June, but the fast finish of European U23 4x400m champion Louise Maraval could get them on the podium.
Bianca Hervas and Carmen Aviles helped Spain to third in that U23 race and they could potentially combine with 2021 European indoor 400m champion Oscar Husillos to challenge in the mixed event.
Alex Seftel for European Athletics