Jeremiah Azu grew up in and competes for Great Britain, but he was also born in the Netherlands and looked very much at home as he flew to the men’s 60m title in front of the Dutch crowd at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn.
The 23-year-old destroyed his personal best in a European lead of 6.49 to take the first senior individual international title of his career, holding off Henrik Larsson’s Swedish record of 6.52, while Andrew Robertson – a late call-up to the British team – grabbed his first senior international medal at the age of 34, coming third in 6.55.
Life has changed rapidly for the new champion in 2025. Not only did he become a father to son Azaire just one week ago, he also recently took the decision to move from Italy, where he had lived and trained under coach Marco Airale since 2022, and return to his home town of Cardiff. He is working once again with his first coach, Helen James.
(Getty)
With his parents and brother looking on from the stands, the Olympic relay bronze medallist built on a semi-final performance of 6.52 that sent out a message to his competitors and, in truth, he was a fine winner when it came to the final reckoning. He is Britain’s first winner of this event since Richard Kilty in 2017.
Azu’s father Alex is a pastor in Wales and it was a desire to help that ministry, and settle his family, that were big contributing factors to the major changes he has made in his life. After the agony of being disqualified in the opening round of the 100m at last summer’s Olympics, Azu has indeed kept the faith.
“I believed I could it – and other people thought I could do it – but it wasn’t ‘done’ until I actually achieved it,” said a beaming Azu, who was born in Rotterdam to Ghanaian parents but grew up in the Welsh capital. His maternal grandfather is Dutch. “When I crossed the line I didn’t think it was me [who had won]. It was hard to see who had got it. When my brother was pointing at me, like ‘it was you, it was you’, I got crazy. The gold means the world to me.”
There have been the sleepless nights that come with the arrival of a newborn to contend with, but the two-time European U23 100m champion added: “I’ve got this forever now. My son will get to watch his dad – in about 10 years when he understands things – and say: ‘He’s a pretty cool guy’.”
(Getty)
In an interview with AW just before these championships, the 2022 European 4x100m relay gold medallist said he had felt “lost in the sport” for the past couple of years. Asked if this was the start of him finding himself, he said: “I’m back, baby!” He will now target the World Indoor Championships later this month.
It was a huge moment, too, for Robertson, who had been on standby for Apeldoorn and was given his chance on Monday following the withdrawal of Romell Glave. He now has the World Indoor qualifying standard, too, following what was his second-fastest time ever.
“I have been doing this sport for many, many years,” he said. “To finally get the medal after hard work, a lot of setbacks, a lot of disappointments, a lot of hard times [means so much]. It wasn’t particularly a great run from me but that is my competitive nature and I have got myself in the best shape ever. Not bad for a 34-year-old!”
Lieke Klaver (Getty)
On a night where the spotlight was on sprinting, Lieke Klaver seized her chance to shine and give the Netherlands their second gold medal of these championships.
The World Indoor silver medallist put herself in charge and led at the bell in 23.4 but was pushed very close in the final stages, the roar of the Apeldoorn crowd helping to take her to 400m victory in a European leading time of 50.38. That performance just edged out Norway’s Henriette Jæger (50.45) and the 50.99 of Paula Sevilla that equalled the Spanish record.
Attila Molnár (Getty)
Gold in the men’s event went to Attila Molnár, the Hungarian running 45.25 to capture his first major title and his nation’s first European Indoor victory in a track event for 40 years. Maksymilian Szwed broke the European under-23 and Polish records with 45.31 to land silver, while a PB of 45.59 brought bronze for Frenchman Jimy Soudril.
A PB of 1:45.65 from Ryan Clarke raised a big cheer from the stands as the home athlete qualified fastest for the men’s 800m final. Spaniard Elvin Josué Canales (1:45.69) was right behind him in the first semi-final, while Belgian Eliott Crestan won the second race in 1:45.84. British indoor champion Justin Davies didn’t progress after finishing sixth in the opening heat in 1:47.17.
Former European under-20 champion Audrey Werro was fastest in women’s 800m qualifying, the Swiss winning the opening semi-final in 2:01.76 from Frenchwoman Clara Liberman (2:01.79). Poland’s Anna Wielgosz won the second semi-final in 2:03.29.
Sander Skotheim (Getty)
Sander Skotheim emerged triumphant from a brilliant battle with world indoor champion Simon Ehammer to win his first major gold and also break his European indoor heptathlon record into the bargain.
The Norwegian had gone into the final event of the competition, the 1000m, trailing his Swiss rival by 50 points, but knew he possessed the quicker personal best. Skotheim needed to win by a margin of around four-and-a-half seconds to be sure of the top prize and left nothing to chance, running a championship best 2:32.72 to hit the line first. Ehammer did produce a PB run, but his 2:41.76 meant he had to settle for silver this time.
Skotheim’s final total was 6558, smashing his European record of 6485 set just last month, and moves him to fifth on the all-time list. Ehammer’s tally of 6506 represented a Swiss record, while Till Steinforth broke the German record with 6388 for bronze and the Estonian mark also fell thanks to fourth placer Johannes Erm’s score of 6380.
After silver medals in the World Indoor Championships and the European championships last year, as well as the European Indoors and U23 Championships in 2023, plus the European U20 Championships in 2021, Skotheim finally got the upgrade he was looking for.
(Getty)
In the field, Italy’s Larissa Iapichino maintained a family tradition in winning the women’s long jump title. Her mother, Fiona May, won gold in the event at the 1998 edition of these championships in Valencia with a leap of 6.91m. Iapichino, however, was quick to point out that she managed to emulate the feat on Saturday night (March 8) with a third-round effort of 6.94m that meant she upgraded her European indoor silver from 2023 and European outdoor silver in Rome last year.
Annik Kälin of Switzerland won silver with her first-round 6.90m that broke the Swiss record, while Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo of Germany claimed bronze with 6.88m on her final jump.
There was also success for Italy in the men’s triple jump, a world-leading leap of 17.71m in the fifth round giving Andy Díaz Hernández his maiden international triple jump title. The Cuban-born Italian Olympic bronze medallist took gold from the grasp of Max Heß, who had led the competition with his 17.43m first-round jump – the furthest in the world this year at that point. It was a fifth successive European Indoor medal for the German. Italy had another medal to celebrate, with Andrea Dallavalle taking bronze with his third-round 17.19m.
A perfect record, culminating in a world-leading personal best clearance of 2.34m, gave Oleh Doroshchuk victory in the men’s high jump. The Ukrainian, a European bronze medallist last summer, held kept the challenge of Jan Štefela at bay, the Czech managing a best of 2.29 for silver – the same height achieved by Italian bronze medallist. Matteo Sioli.
In the women’s pole vault final, 2021 champion Angelica Moser sampled that winning feeling again thanks to a clearance of 4.80m. Silver went to Tina Šutej of Slovenia (4.75m), while European under-23 champion Marie-Julie Bonnin (4.70m) of France completed the podium.
» Subscribe to AW magazine here, check out our new podcast here or sign up to our digital archive of back issues from 1945 to the present day here
