What To Watch This Weekend: European Indoor Championships

By Preet Majithia

The big meet this weekend is the European Indoor Championships, which takes place on Femke Bol’s home track in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, from Thursday, March 6th through Sunday, March 9th.

The joy of a European Championship is that there are so many smaller countries that get the opportunity to compete and earn medals, and athletes who may not otherwise get opportunities on the world stage get to perform in front of passionate crowds with lots of support. As the Paris Olympics aptly demonstrated, there is little in the sport of track and field that can beat a championship meet in Europe, and this promises to be no different, with a packed stadium expected.

‘Innovation’ – Wavelights at a Championships

The most headline-grabbing aspect of the meet is almost certainly the surprising announcement the day before the action starts that Wavelight technology will be used at the championships. The online reaction has—to put it mildly—been overwhelmingly negative. European Athletics have clarified that the intention is to enhance the spectator experience, and not to provide assistance to the athletes with pacing:

"Unlike in Diamond League meetings, where Wavelight is used to set and maintain pace for runners, it will not be used as a direct aid to athletes in Apeldoorn. Instead, it will serve three key functions:

1. Event Presentation Tool: Wavelight will be used to highlight key moments in the programme, such as the introduction of star athletes and medal ceremonies.

2. Guide Light in Heats: In the 1500m and 3000m heats, Wavelight will act as a guide, providing a reference pace that remains the same across all heats. The system will switch on after the first third of the race and switch off before the final lap, offering spectators a clearer comparison of how different races unfold.

3. ‘Invisible’ Record Light: For the finals, Wavelight will display European, world and championship records—but only when an athlete is within five metres of surpassing one."

It may be that this limited use of the technology does serve to enhance the spectator experience. Certainly when watching in person, it isn’t possible to easily understand splits (especially for a casual fan), and Wavelight can certainly let the audience know if a significant record is in danger.

However, if we continue to make the sport more about chasing fast times and not learning to appreciate great races between the best athletes, then casual fans may become easily disengaged when the constant stream of records dries up. In addition, the magic of championship racing is that tactics and strategy come into play far more than the time trials we see on the circuit. Try to imagine George Beamish’s shocking win in last year’s World Indoor 1500m taking place in a race aided by Wavelight. That’s what we stand to lose—and this is what most knowledgeable fans are currently objecting to.

There also remains a question as to what the “reference” pace would be in the heats, and when the invisible record lights will become visible, so tune in at the very least to see how this “innovation” is implemented!

The main events to watch include:

Women’s Short Sprints

As is customary, the women’s hurdlers always show up, and although we haven’t seen indoor queen and Olympic silver medalist Cyrena Samba-Mayela this season, we have multiple athletes under 7.90 this year showing up. Olympic fourth placer Nadine Visser (NED) will be looking to secure a gold medal at home, battling regular foil Pia Skrzyszowska (POL), Ditaji Kambundji (SUI) and, fastest of them all, Laeticia Bapte (FRA) who has posted a 7.76 this season.

In the 60m we have four of the world’s top eight performers of 2025 in Mujinga Kambundji (SUI), Zaynab Dosso (ITA), Patrizia van der Weken (LUX) and Ewa Swoboda (POL). All four have run sub-7.10 this year, with van der Weken being the most consistent performer…  albeit that doesn’t mean anything come the championships.

Women’s 400m And Relays

The mixed and women’s 4x400m relays will feature Femke Bol (NED), who is not competing individually, making the Netherlands likely favorites for a home gold medal in both events.

Until some spectacular SEC conference results last weekend, the women’s 400m was due to feature the three fastest women in the world this year in home favorite Lieke Klaver (NED), 2024 NCAA Indoor Champion and Olympic fifth placer Amber Anning (GB), and Norway’s Henriette Jaeger, who comes in with the fastest time and is also an Olympic finalist. This is expected to be a great battle for the gold.

1500m

Olympic bronze medalist Georgia Hunter Bell (GB) comes in as the heavy favorite, with both the fastest seed time and the best racing pedigree following her Millrose victory. But Hunter Bell now has to adapt her mindset from being the underdog story of 2024 to running with the pressure of delivering an expected victory on the championship stage. On the men’s side, Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) deserves a lot of credit for always showing up to race at a championships (with his latest outing being the European Cross Country in December), and given the wealth of 1500m talent in Europe, it’s a shame more of his rivals are not going to be challenging him. However Neil Gourley (GB) and Azeddine Habz (FRA) are the two most likely candidates trying to prevent Jakob from adding to the five European Indoor gold medals he has already won at the tender age of 24. 

3000m

The most anticipated race of the meet is probably the men’s 3000m, where Jakob Ingebrigtsen will double back to face off against George Mills (GBR)—who ran an incredible and largely solo effort of 7.27.92 for a world lead prior to Grant Fisher and Cole Hocker doing their thing at Millrose—and Niels Laros (NED), the fourth fastest man in the world this year after beating a slew of Ethiopians in Lievin. Interestingly, if Jakob plans to run World Indoors, he still needs to run the qualifying time, which would be sub 7:31 (or at the least run under 7:34 to get into the top list on ranking), which means he may well be motivated to make the race a fast one (cue up those invisible record Wavelights!). On the women’s side Melissa Courtney-Bryant (GB) comes in as the favorite after her spectacular victory with a super fast time in a stacked race at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.

Field

The field events are headlined by Olympic Champions Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR) in the High Jump and Yemisi Ogunleye (GER) in the shot put. Mahuchikh is a heavy favorite but behind her there should be a real scrap for the remaining medals, with up and coming Angelina Topic (SRB) the pick of the challengers. Ogunleye will be battling home hope Jessica Schilder (NED), who has constantly thrown well over 20m this season.

In the pole vault, Mondo Duplantis is not competing, but Olympic bronze medalist Emmanouil Karalis (GRE) has jumped over 6m more than once this season and ought to come in on top. However, should he falter, there are many men not too far behind, with the best story there being the return to form of Renaud Lavillenie (FRA), 2016 Olympic Champion, who jumped 5.91m last week and set a world masters record in the process.

In the men’s long jump, a late withdrawal from Olympic Champion Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE) leaves the door open for rising star, Olympic bronze medalist and world leader Mattia Furlani (ITA) to secure his first senior gold medal. In the women’s long jump, 2021 Olympic Champion Malaika Mihambo (GER) leads the field having jumped over 7m this year, but will be under threat from the likes of Italy’s Larissa Iapichino and Swiss heptathlete Annik Kalin.

How To Watch/Follow

There will be three morning and four evening sessions, all available to stream for free on the European Athletics website as well as the Eurovision Sport platforms (albeit requiring a free registration), with individual field event streams also available. Yes, that includes American fans, too! They also have a downloadable mobile app for easier access to the streams. In the UK, the meet is also available via the BBC and BBC iPlayer.

The main evening session action starts as follows (with some field events starting even earlier): Thursday, March 6th at 19:00 CET (1:00 p.m. ET); Friday, March 7th at 20:00 CET (2:00 p.m. ET); Saturday, March 8th at 19:00 CET (1:00 p.m. ET); Sunday, March 9th at 16:00 CET (10:00 a.m. ET). The full timetable is here.

Preet Majithia will be on the ground for CITIUS MAG and will provide updates and interviews on X at prm_32 with some key moments and interviews also being posted on the CITIUS MAG channels.

Handy Links: Entry List (note not updated for late scratches) | Timetable | Live Stream (needs free registration) | Live Results and Start Lists (needs free registration)

One Good Song For Your Weekend 

Some people are in peak championship mode, and others are keeping the momentum going into the outdoor season or a spring road race. No matter what, as this artist would put it, “the show goes on.” Since we’re building to a World Championship, I figured it was best to include a song that aims to hype up a wide range of people. I hope this speaks to you, whether life is going well and you want a track for your workout playlist, or you are navigating some difficulties and need a tune to get you to stand tall again.

The Best of CITIUS MAG This Week: Alex Maier on the CITIUS MAG Podcast | This Week in Track and Field on the CITIUS MAG Podcast | Faith Kipyegon and The Four Minute Mile: Is It Possible? | U.S. Half Marathon Championships Recap | Tokyo Marathon Recap | How To Increase The Stakes At BU’s Indoor Meets | Heather MacLean Runs Fourth-Fastest Indoor Mile In 4:17.01 | The Lap Count Newsletter: Trying Is Worth A Try

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