The Madrid 2025 European Athletics Team Championships 1st Division is now imminent (27–29 June) and the women's track events promise to deliver some memorable action with superstars Femke Bol, Nadia Battocletti and the breakout Spanish 4x100m team expected to provide some of the event highlights.
The event will be streamed live on the European Athletics website courtesy of the Eurovision Sport platform.
Sprints (100m – 400m)
European silver medallist Ewa Swoboda is due to make her summer debut in the women's 100m. The crowd-pleasing Pole won this event in front of her home fans in Silesia 2023.
The entries also include Germany’s 4x100 reigning Olympic bronze medallist Lisa Mayer and Portugal’s 42-year-old Lorene Dorcas Bazolo, both of them having clocked lifetime bests of 11.10 this season. Spain’s María Isabel Pérez with 11.17 so far this campaign, will try to give the local crowd something to cheer about.
In the 200m, the evergreen Bazolo also leads the entries thanks to a 22.74 season’s best, but she should be pushed by Spain’s Jael Bestué, Germany’s Sophia Junk and Sweden’s Julia Henriksson, the three of them having ducked under the 23.00 barrier this year. European indoor 400m champion Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands should also fight for the top spots.
The 400m will offer a much-awaited showdown between Roma 2024 gold medallists Femke Bol (400m hurdles) and Poland’s Natalia Bukowiecka (400m); the Dutch athlete will be making her 2025 debut on the flat but has shown great form in her specialist event while the Pole is still rounding into form, her season’s best being 50.44. Watch out too for Spain’s reigning European indoor bronze medallist Paula Sevilla (50.92).
Distance (800m – 5000m)
Fresh off a stunning national record of 1:57.25 in Bydgoszcz, 21-year-old Swiss Audrey Werro will start as the woman to beat in the 800m while France’s Anais Bourgoin has improved this season to 1:57.81 and Italy’s Elisa Coiro to 1:58.64. Youngsters Smilla Kolbe of Germany (1:59.02) and Great Britain’s Abigail Yves (1:59.49) should also be in the mix.
France’s current European indoor champion Agathe Guillemot should be regarded the favourite in the 1500 following her recent season’s best of 3:58.44 in Paris where Portugal’s Salome Afonso set a career best of 3:59.32 on the same race. Both will be challenged by the local hope, Agueda Marqués, who made the Paris Olympic final and holds a season’s best of 4:00.57.
Italy’s Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Nadia Battocletti is the overwhelming favourite in the 5000m as she is in the form of her life having set respective PBs at every distance from 1500 to 10K this season capped with a 5000m national record of 14:23.15 in Rome.
The European 5000m and 10,000m champion seems to be head and shoulders ahead of Spain’s current European 5000m bronze medallist Marta García, holder of a season’s best of 14:47.18.
The 3000m steeplechase will be a wide open event as France’s Flavie Renouard is the season’s fastest entrant thanks to a 9:21.50 clocking but Poland’s 2021 European U23 silver medallist Kinga Krolik (9:22.14) and Spain’s reigning European U23 bronze medallist Marta Serrano (9:24:26) will provide stiff challenge.
Hurdles
The 100m hurdles is stacked with quality, the event featuring big names such as Paris Olympics fourth place finisher Nadine Visser of the Netherlands (season’s best: 12.49), Switzerland’s current European silver medallist Ditaji Kambundji (12.71) and Poland’s Pia Skrzyszowska (12.69), bronze medallist on that occasion while the in-form Italian Giada Carmassi, fresh from a PB of 12.69 should also be a factor.
Kambundji, Visser and Skrzyszowska were the three medallists at the Apeldoorn 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
In the 400m hurdles, Italy’s 2023 Budapest World Athletics Championships sixth-place finisher Ayomide Folorunso looks a step ahead of the rest, boasting a season’s best of 54.21 while Great Britain’s Lina Nielsen leads a group of another four under 55.00 specialists with a 54.66 season’s best. Spain’s 4x400 gold medallist in Guangzhou Daniela Fra will be looking for her first under 55.00 clocking to be in the mix.
4x100m Relay
The Spanish 4x100m quartet made a major breakthrough at the World Relays in Guangzhou in May by taking silver in a massive national record of 42.18 and the local squad should be the team to beat in front of its home crowd despite lining-up against powerful quartets such as Great Britain, Germany, and France.