There is the opportunity for some new names to seize the moment in the women’s middle distance events at the Apeldoorn 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships on 6-9 March.
In the absence of the three defending title holders from Istanbul 2023 - Keely Hodgkinson (800m), Laura Muir (1500m) and Hanna Klein (3000m) - it offers a chance for several athletes to go from contenders to champions, both among the more experienced runners and some emerging prospects.
Horvat hoping to step up in 800m
With Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson out through injury, the women’s 800m field is wide open. The British runner has held the title since Torun 2021, after she defended her crown impressively in Istanbul 2023.
The silver medallist two years ago, Anita Horvat of Slovenia is one of the athletes who might be fancying her chances. A finalist at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, she is rounding into form at the right time, winning at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Madrid on Friday (28) in a season’s best 2:00.35.
A former 400m runner, she has plenty of speed to call on if required. Audrey Werro is the current European U20 champion and has run the tiniest fraction - a mere 0.01 - quicker than Horvat this season. The promising Swiss athlete, who made the final two years ago at the age of 18, will be seeking her first senior international medal.
The experienced Polish runner Anna Wielgosz cannot be ruled out. Bronze medallist at the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships, she was in impressive form at the recent Polish Indoor Championships on 22-23 February, clocking 2:00:38 (heat) and 2:00.75 (final) on her way to gold.
Hunter Bell seeking more medals
Georgia Hunter Bell went from virtual unknown to Olympic and European medallist last year, taking silver in Roma 2024 and bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
She has continued her blistering form into the 2025 indoor season, most impressively when beating a tough international field at the Wanamaker Mile in New York on 8 February. The 31-year-old will start as favourite in the women’s 1500m in Apeldoorn.
Italy’s Marta Zenoni is another athlete bang in form. The 25-year-old broke the 43-year-old Italian 1500m record when she won at the CMCM Luxembourg Indoor Meeting in January in 4:04.59.
She was also part of the winning Italian mixed relay quartet at the Antalya 2024 SPAR European Cross Country Championships, so will be optimistic of another podium appearance in Apeldoorn.
France’s Agathe Guillemot, bronze medallist at Roma 2024 and ninth in the Olympic final in Paris is also likely to contend. 2021 champion Elise Vanderelst of Belgium will be also hoping her championship experience comes to the fore.
Another name worth watching is Denmark’s Sofia Thøgersen, the three-time European U20 medallist is one of the rising stars of middle distance running.
Golden opportunity for Courtney-Bryant
With Hanna Klein from Germany absent, the focus of attention will be on Melissa Courtney-Bryant, an athlete with both the pedigree and the form to contend.
She has twice won 3000m bronze at these championships in Glasgow 2019 and Istanbul 2023 and has massively improved her personal best by over nine seconds to 8:28.69 in New York earlier this season.
Ireland’s European U23 1500m silver medallist Sarah Healy, a training partner of Hunter-Bell and Hodgkinson, has also shown good form this season and was just 2.10 seconds adrift of Courtney-Bryant in her breakthrough run in the United States where she set an Irish indoor record and outright lifetime best of 8:30.79.
Ten years on from winning silver at the Prague 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships, the Netherlands’ Maureen Koster is back to contend in front of her home crowd.
The Dutch runner has been a consistent finalist in recent years, placing sixth in the Istanbul 2023 European Indoor Championships and fourth over 5000m at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships. She will be hopeful of an extra lift from the packed out arena to push for a podium place.
Another athlete worth watching is Britain’s 18-year-old two-time SPAR European Cross Country Championships gold medallist Innes FitzGerald, who is taking part in her first ever indoor season.
Thus far, she has carried her strong cross country credentials onto the boards, most notably when setting a new European indoor U20 record of 8:40.05 in Ostrava in February.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics