Tournament Director Dafne Schippers is ready to see “the new generation shine” ahead of the Apeldoorn 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships on 6-9 March.
The now retired two-time world 200m champion was speaking at the Dutch Olympic Training Centre at Papendal on Thursday (27) with a week to go until the event.
Speaking with Dutch media, she looked ahead to Apeldoorn 2025 and said: “I am very excited to see all the international athletes. The stadium will be full. It will be really nice to have all the Dutch people in the stadium and I think that will give the athletes a big boost.”
Asked on whether she missed competing. She laughed: “I have distanced myself from that. I enjoy my new role, and I like to see the new generation shine. I am now the poster child of this tournament!"
Hopeful of Rome-effect
This will be the third occasion the Netherlands has hosted the European Athletics Indoor Championships following Rotterdam 1973, where the home team failed to win a single medal and the The Hague 1989, where they fared much better with three gold, two silver and one bronze.
Schippers, who won 100m and 4x100m gold at the Amsterdam 2016 European Athletics Championships, is hopeful that the home support can have galvanising effect on the Dutch team in Apeldoorn 2025, as it did for the Italian team at last summer’s Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships, where the L'Azzurri won a record 24 medals.
"We have a great team with many athletes who are there for the first time. I expect a lot from the relay teams,” she says. “And of Lieke Klaver in the 400 metres. Just like Niels Laros (men’s 3000m) and Nadine Visser (60m hurdles) and Maureen Koster (women’s 3000m), maybe they can take a medal?"
Bol should "choose own path"
And on the world indoor 400m record-holder’s decision to miss the individual and concentrate on the 4x400m relays, Schippers said: "She had a long and tough season last year, including the European Athletics Championships and the Olympic Games, so it might be a good idea to take a step back."
"I just said (to her) that she should choose her own path. I want her to have a long career. I have never skipped a tournament myself. I don't regret that, but perhaps it would have been wise for me to take a step back every now and then."
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics