There were few athletes at the Apeldoorn 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships who carried as much of a gold medal burden as Lieke Klaver.
The Dutch public have become used to success of their female runners over 400m, particularly indoors. But with the ever-reliant winner Femke Bol, the world record-holder and reigning world and European indoor champion, choosing to focus on the relays instead, expectation shifted to Klaver.
A long-established member of the Dutch 4x400m relay teams that have won Olympic, world and European gold, she placed second to Bol in the individual event at both last year’s World Indoor Championships in Glasgow and at the Istanbul 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
But an upgrade to gold was not a given. The emergence of Henriette Jaeger of Norway and Great Britain’s Amber Anning this season, saw Klaver ranked third fastest entering the championships.
After Anning was disqualified for a lane infringement in the heats, it left Klaver and Jaeger as the main contenders. And so, it proved in a brilliant final on Saturday (8) when Klaver took the early lead and resisted the persistent Norwegian who drew alongside the Dutch athlete, but just held on to win by 0.07 in 50.38, thrilling a jubilant Dutch crowd.
"I love pressure"
Klaver acknowledged that that the expectations were high. “I had lots of scenarios over what could have happened,” she said the day after the night before. “This was my main scenario that I wanted to happen. I am happy.
“I had a lot of pressure, especially from myself. This is a once-in-a-lifetime where you have a championships in our own country. My parents were here, my brother was here. I’m physically very fit, so I knew that if there was a chance for a gold medal, it would have been yesterday (Saturday).
“It was giving me a lot of pressure. But I love pressure. I need a bit of insecurity to grow. I was just very focussed because I knew a lot of people where all here for me, for a lot of the Dutch people.
“The thought that they were there for me, was giving me a lot of pressure. So, I wanted to lock myself in for that moment. I just wanted to have me and my lane and that’s it.”
She was conscious of the threat her rivals presented. “I was really prepared for the battle with Anning and Jaeger, so with that coming into a tournament I am already stressed myself. You know in a good way. But then you have to build it through the whole tournament and then to peak on the last day, that is the toughest,” she said.
She later raced the opening leg as the Netherlands added the women's 4x400m gold, concluding a brilliant championships for the hosts and for Klaver personally.
Tearful start in the sport
She also paid tribute to her family and boyfriend Terrence Agard, Tokyo Olympics 4x400m silver medallist, all of whom she sought out in the crowd in the post victory celebrations.
“Family is really important,” she said. “We don’t see them that often. But we have them here and they show me love, strength and safety on these moments. It is really very important to me.” On Agard, she said: “When I come home and I shut the door, I am with him, and everything is safe and I am okay.”
Klaver is a passionate advocate of the benefits of athletics, but she wasn’t particularly pleased when her parents introduced her to the sport as a child.
“My brother and I were always running to school,” she says. “We both did some competitions and I was always running with him and his friends. So, I was always surrounded by boys who were fast and I wanted to beat them.
"So one day, my mum said to me ‘you and your brother are going to track and field’ and was like ‘no! I literally cried at the first three training (sessions).”
“But I made some friends and then I went better and better and now I love it. It’s not only just the running. For your general physical development track and field is so good, so that’s why I didn’t need another sport.”
Looking ahead with confidence
For the year ahead, it was confirmed in Dutch media by coach Laurent Meuwly that Klaver will forego this week’s World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China and instead focus on the outdoor season.
She is scheduled to start at the Doha Diamond League on 16 May and leading towards the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo 13-21 September via the European Athletics Team Championships in Madrid on 27-29 June.
And with an individual gold medal now safely nestled in her collection, the Dutch athlete can look towards the summer with less pressure and more confidence.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics