Olympic gold medalist Femke Bol expresses anticipation for European Athletics Indoor Championships 2025 weeks after major update on her indoor season

Dutch sprint sensation Femke Bol expressed her anticipation for the 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships. The championships are scheduled from March 6 to 9 in Apeldoorn, also her home event.

This will be Bol's first event of the indoor season, having announced a few weeks earlier on Instagram that she would not be competing in the individual 400m indoors this year as she wanted to take more time off from competitions.

However, Bol confirmed in the same post that she will race in the relay events, including the women’s 4x400m and mixed 4x400m, at the European Indoors in Apeldoorn. The four-time Olympic medalist shared her excitement for the tournament via her Instagram story, captioning it:

“4 days!!”

Screenshot of Bol’s Instagram story. Credits - IG/ @femke_bol

For this year’s European Indoor Championships, the Dutch team will send a 46-athlete field including the likes of Nadine Visser in the individual 60m hurdles and Lieke Klaver in the 400m and relay events.

At the 2023 edition of the tournament, the Netherlands finished second in the medal table with seven medals, including three gold, three silver, and one bronze, behind Norway, who emerged as the table toppers by collecting one extra gold. Femke Bol played an integral role in the Dutch team’s success, winning two out of the three golds.

Femke Bol on physical and mental challenges she faces in 400m indoor competitions

Femke Bol after setting new World Record at World Athletics Indoor Championships 2024. (Photo: Getty Images)

Femke Bol reflected on the mental and physical challenges she faced during her 400m indoor races. Although she admitted that her runs might look comfortable, they are not so in reality.

In an interaction with Virgin Media Sport's journalist, Will Dalton, she was asked how she broke world records so effortlessly after her remarkable performance at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships. She replied:

“It's not comfortable, that's a secret. Just like to make it look...I must say the last 50 is never easy. But I learned this indoor season that even though I feel tired, I feel full of lactic, I keep running. So, this is just what I trust myself now with even though I feel like I can no more. I know I will keep running if I keep my form. So, I wanted to go out fast today and then you know it's going to hurt, but if you know it's going to hurt it will hurt a little bit less.”

At the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow on March 2 last year, Femke Bol ran an impressive 49.17s, breaking her own world record in the 400m. Just weeks earlier, she had clocked 49.24s at the Dutch Indoor Championships.