Road to Apeldoorn: A look ahead to European Indoor Championships
Elizabeth Egan | Jan 04, 2025
The 38th European Indoor Athletics Championships will be held in the Dutch city of Apeldoorn between 6 and 9 March 2025. After missing out on medals in 2021 (Phil Healy finished fourth in the 400m) and 2023 (Darragh McElhinney was fourth in the 3000m), Irish athletes will be hoping for some silverware.
But first, they must qualify. At the time of writing, two relay teams (Women’s 4x400m and Mixed 4x400m) and six individuals have achieved the required entry standards, though some of the latter do not have Apeldoorn in their plans for 2025.
Athletes have until 23rd February, the weekend of the National Senior Indoor Championships, to achieve the entry standard set by European Athletics, or to gain enough ranking points to be within the required quota AND achieve the Athletics Ireland B standard.
Current status of Irish Athletes on Road to Apeldoorn
The mixed relay is making its indoor debut this year, and the Irish have qualified for both that and the women’s relay by virtue of their position on the World top list at the end of 2024. The Men’s 4x400m has the opportunity to join them, but the Irish men will need some swift individual performances by the 23rd February cut-off.
Netherlands, Great Britain, Belgium and France have already secured their place and the remaining two spots will be allocated based on the best cumulative times of a nation’s four fastest athletes during the 2025 indoor season.
Sarah Healy, Sophie O’Sullivan (both 1500m), Brian Fay (3000m) and Sarah Lavin (100m hurdles) ran fast enough outdoors last season to qualify, and, should they choose to compete, will be looking for top eight finishes (or higher).
Rhasidat Adeleke has already said that she will skip both European and World indoors this season, and Ciara Mageean, who has achieved the qualification standard for both the 800m and 1500m is recovering from recent surgery on the injury that kept her out of Paris.
Kate O’Connor (Pentathlon) is the only athlete in quota who currently has the Athletics Ireland B standard. Others within the quota cut-off at the start of the season are Israel Olatunde (60m), Sharlene Mawdsley, Sophie Becker (both 400m), Mark English (800m), Cathal Doyle, Andrew Coscoran (both 1500m) and Jodie McCann (3000m).
Luke McCann (1500m) is also ranked within quota though he has announced that he won’t be competing in 2025 due to injury.
The complexity of ranking points
Approximately half the quota spots in each event will be allocated based on World Rankings. World rankings are based on outdoor performances, even when used for qualification for indoor events, and while two (or one for 3000m) indoor or associated-distance performances can count, athletes need at least some outdoor results to have a ranking.
Nick Griggs is currently a few spots outside the quota for 1500m, and just missed the outdoor standard for the 3000m. He’ll hope to qualify for at least one event, though if he’s to do it in the longer distance, he’ll need to hit the 7:43.00 Auto Q or find an outdoor 5000m race (or an indoor 5000m on a 400m track) to qualify by ranking.
Track athletes who missed last year’s outdoor season therefore only have the Auto Q route to qualification. Same too for 400m hurdlers looking to race 400m indoors. Field eventers can qualify by virtue of their five best-scoring performance, irrespective of how many of these were achieved indoors.
Because Auto Qs can be achieved outdoors, athletes who never race indoors, are currently injured, or retired post-Paris, may well be sitting within quota spots – by qualification or ranking – at the end of the qualification period. Irish athletes interested in competing in Apeldoorn will be hoping to benefit from subsequent withdrawals by such athletes.
But first, they need to hit the Athletics Ireland B standards. And while there’s still much to play for, particularly in terms of Auto Qs, much of the heavy lifting is already done in terms of gathering world ranking points.
We’ll keep you informed of when Irish athletes hit Auto Q standards and Athletics Ireland B standards, and bring you regular ranking updates after the Road to Apeldoorn is updated each week on our European Indoors information page.
Some other useful information
The Irish team will be announced after final selections have been made on 25th February.
If you’re looking to support the Irish athletes in person, you’re probably too late. Tickets for all the evening sessions sold out early, though there are limited moving morning session available for Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 March.
We’ll publish all the information you need to follow the event – including an Irish-specific timetable, links to startlists and live results, and details of where to watch the event – closer to the time.
Irish athletes will be aiming for their first European Indoor medal in six years, and we don’t want you to miss any of the action.