Jakub Szymanski has been the in-form sprint hurdler this winter and the Pole will be looking to capture his first major title in the 60m hurdles at the Apeldoorn 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships from 6-9 March.
Szymanski, who won silver two years ago in Istanbul at the age of 20, began his season in scintillating form, clocking 7.41 in Luxembourg to move to equal second on the European all-time list and he has maintained this form all the way through the season.
Since then, Szymanski has moved to outright second on the European indoor all-time list with 7.39 on home soil in Lodz, a time which has only been bettered by Great Britain’s Colin Jackson who holds the European record with 7.30.
The European record might be safe for now but Szymanski could have Jackson’s venerable championship record of 7.39 which dates back to the 1994 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Paris as a target in Apeldoorn.
But firstly, Szymanski will have to overcome a highly competitive and high calibre field which features reigning champion Jason Joseph from Switzerland who is rounding into form at just the right time with a 7.45 season’s best to win at the Swiss Indoor Championships.
The French always have medal ambitions in the 60m hurdles and their triumvirate includes 2021 European indoor champion Wilhem Belocian and reigning world and European indoor bronze medallist Just Kwaou-Mathey who is on the comeback from an Achilles rupture.
Also watch out for the Spanish duo of Enrique Llopis and newcomer Abel Jordan who finished first and second at the Spanish Indoor Championships in 7.50 and 7.53 respectively. Llopis, who finished fourth at the Olympic Games, will be hoping to banish the memories of the final two years ago when he fell heavily and had to be stretchered off the track.
But the formbook could be upturned entirely if Italy’s Lorenzo Simonelli is anywhere near his best form. Simonelli hasn’t raced this year but dispatched the field in the 110m hurdles at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome where he won one of Italy’s 11 gold medals.
Jordan emerging as a double threat
The 60m lacks a clear-cut favourite but the championships could launch the career of the multi-talented Abel Jordan who is due to make his major championships debut in Apeldoorn 2025.
Jordan, 22, finished a close second behind Enrique Llopis in the 60m hurdles final having already won the 60m final in a lifetime best of 6.54 to match 2023 European indoor bronze medallist Henrik Larsson from Sweden at the top of the 2025 European list. He is due to contest both events in Apeldoorn.
Also watch out for Jeremiah Azu who won bronze in the 100m at the 2022 European Athletics Championships. He will lead the British team in the absence of Romell Glave who has pulled out due to injury. Another name in the medal fray is double German indoor champion Robin Ganter who clocked 6.56 to win his domestic 60m title.
Reigning champion Samuele Ceccarelli from Italy is due to defend his title but he is some way adrift of the form which saw him win gold in Istanbul 2023 in 6.47. By contrast, Ceccarelli has been restricted to a modest 6.64 season’s best in the build-up to Apeldoorn.
Can Molnar break the European record in Apeldoorn?
Attila Molnar has been one of the breakthrough athletes of the indoor season and the Hungarian is over half-a-second faster than his nearest rival based on performances this winter in the 400m.
Molnar blasted to a 45.08 clocking in Ostrava last month to scare the European record of 45.05 which is jointly led by East Germany’s Thomas Schonlebe and Norway’s Karsten Warholm, the latter setting that time in winning gold at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
Can the Hungarian find an extra four-hundredths to break both the championship record and European indoor record in Apeldoorn? As proven by Femke Bol who has twice broken the world indoor record in the Omnisport Arena, fast times are a possibility on this track.
And if Molnar wins gold in Apeldoorn, he will end his country’s 40-year drought by becoming the first Hungarian man to win a gold medal at the European Athletics Indoor Championships since Gyula Paloczi won the long jump title in 1985.
Behind Molnar, the race for the medals looks wide open. The Spaniards are fielding a strong triumvirate including Inaki Canal - who won the Spanish indoor title in Madrid in 45.74 - and Oscar Husillos, the gold medallist at the 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun.
Another new name to emerge is 20-year-old Polish indoor champion Maksymilian Szwed who is the third fastest based on season’s bests with 45.81. Szwed won bronze in the 400m at the 2023 European Athletics U20 Championships.
The home nation will also have genuine medal hopes in this event too. The Dutch will be represented by Isaya Klein Ikkink and Eugene Omalla - both of whom were part of the Netherlands’ gold medal-winning team in the mixed 4x400m at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games - and Jonas Phijffers, the fastest Dutch athlete this year with a lifetime best of 45.90.
The Netherlands and Spain will also be in the hunt for medals in the 4x400m relay along with reigning champions Belgium, Czechia, France and Olympic silver medallists Great Britain.
Steven Mills for European Athletics