Last year’s European Athlete of the Year Femke Bol from the Netherlands has been announced for the Metz Moselle Athlelor, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting, on 11 February.
The Metz Moselle Athlelor is one of the nine confirmed World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver and Bronze meetings in Europe which will be streamed live on the European Athletics YouTube channel.
Bol will race over 400m in Metz where she faces a field which includes her training partner Anna Kielbasinska from Poland, the bronze medallist behind Bol in this event at the European Athletics Championships in Munich.
The treble European champion will be seeking her fourth successive victory in Metz on the road to a possible appearance at the Istanbul 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships from 2-5 March.
Bol opened her year at this meeting last year, taking the victory over 400m in 50.71. The Dutchwoman went on to amass an incredible seven major medals over the course of three championships in 2022, including gold medals in the 400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400m in Munich.
Her training partner Lieke Klaver, who was also part of the Dutch 4x400m gold medal-winning team in Munich, will contest the 200m in Metz where she faces European bronze medallist Ida Karstoft from Denmark.
The men’s 400m will be another of the highlights of the programme. The line-up includes Dutchmen Liemarvin Bonevacia and Jochem Dobber up against European U23 400m champion Ricky Petrucciani from Switzerland and Belgians Alexander Doom and Julien Watrin.