Hunter Bell leads British hopes at European Indoors
Georgia Hunter Bell has won three of the four competitions she has contested in 2025
- Published
Georgia Hunter Bell will chase her first major international title when she leads Great Britain's medal hopes at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.
Olympic bronze medallist Hunter Bell will line up as the fastest European woman over 1500m this year and, while another podium place is her priority, Laura Muir's British indoor record time of 3:59.58 is also in her sights.
"I would love to run a fast time and I do have half an eye on the British record," Hunter Bell, who races in the heats during Thursday's opening session, told BBC Sport.
"But championship racing is about the podium, not the time, so we will see if the opportunity presents itself this weekend to run fast."
Elsewhere, Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen will bid to make history by taking his tally of European indoor golds to seven with a third consecutive 1500m and 3,000m double at the championships.
Great Britain finished third in the medal table with three golds and six medals overall in 2023, but title-winners Keely Hodgkinson, Laura Muir and Jazmin Sawyers are all absent from the 42-strong squad.
Another British medal hope, world indoor pole vault champion Molly Caudery, has withdrawn to focus on the World Indoor Championships later this month as she manages a minor calf problem.
The championships will feature wavelight technology - the LED pacing system on the inside of the track - for the first time after European Athletics approved its use in a competitive setting, although organisers said "it will not be used as a direct aid to athletes".
Follow coverage of the European Indoor Championships on BBC Two from Thursday 6 to Sunday, 9 March.
From underdog to golden expectations
Few could have foreseen Hunter Bell's rapid rise to the Olympic podium even just 12 months ago. Now a full-time athlete after taking a sabbatical from her cyber security job to chase her Olympic dream last summer, the 31-year-old is targeting her first international gold.
Hunter Bell set a British record time of three minutes 52.61 seconds in winning a brilliant 1500m bronze at Paris 2024, two months after she secured her first international medal at the outdoor European Championships in Rome.
Having achieved victory over the mile at the prestigious Millrose Games in New York and retained her British indoor 1500m title in a promising start to 2025, her season's best of 4:00.63 is almost three seconds faster than any of her competitors in Apeldoorn.
"Last year I was very much the underdog, this year I'm going into competitions expected to win, which is a big mental adjustment," said Hunter Bell, who trains alongside Olympic 800m champion Hodgkinson under coaches Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows.
"It's something Keely adjusted to last year and really worked hard on. I speak to her about it to get some advice and hopefully I will develop that."
Georgia Hunter Bell won 1500m bronze on her Olympic debut last summer
George Mills and Melissa Courtney-Bryant both also go into their respective 3,000m events with leading times this year.
Mills, the son of former England international footballer Danny Mills, broke the British indoor 3,000m record in a time of 7:27.92 in February but will face tough competition from two-time champion Ingebrigtsen - as will fellow Briton Neil Gourley over 1500m.
Two-time European indoor 3,000m bronze medallist Courtney-Bryant clocked 8:28.69 to win in Boston in February and is joined by 18-year-old senior debutant Innes FitzGerald, who recently smashed the European indoor U20 record in 8:40.05.
The British team also features Olympic 400m finalist Amber Anning, while 2022 European 100m bronze medallist Jeremiah Azu and Olympic women's 4x100m relay silver medallists Bianca Williams and Amy Hunt each compete over 60m.
Ingebrigtsen and Bol among stars to watch
Ingebrigtsen will aim to complete a remarkable triple-double in the 1500m and 3,000m, a feat which would see him match Valeriy Borzov's record of seven European indoor titles.
The 24-year-old, already a seven-time global medallist, repeated his Torun 2021 golden double in Istanbul two years ago, having captured 3,000m gold and 1500m silver as an 18-year-old in 2019.
The Olympic 5,000m champion appears in the form to achieve that again, breaking his world indoor 1500m record (3:29.63) while setting the world indoor mile record (3:45.14) last month.
But Britons Gourley, 1500m silver medallist in 2023, and Mills, winner of European 5,000m silver last year, will hope to challenge Ingebrigtsen in their respective finals on Friday and Sunday.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen broke the indoor world records for the mile and 1500m in the same race at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in France in February
While Femke Bol has chosen not to compete in any individual events at her home championships, the 25-year-old Dutch star will look to anchor the host nation to medals in both the mixed and women's 4x400m relays - the first and last events of the four-day championship.
Nine years after working as a volunteer ticket scanner when Amsterdam hosted the 2016 European Championships, Bol will represent her nation as a 12-time medallist at major global championships following her three Olympic medals at Paris 2024.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh will target a third consecutive European indoor title as the clear favourite after claiming Olympic gold last summer and breaking the world record with a leap over 2.10m.
How to watch the European Indoor Championships
The European Indoor Championships begin on Thursday evening, with morning and evening sessions held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (all times GMT).
Thursday, 6 March
17:00-20:00 BBC Two
20:00-21:00 BBC Three
17:00-21:00 BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website & app
Finals: Mixed 4x400m relay (20:50)
Friday, 7 March
08:00-13:30 & 18:30-21:00 BBC Two
Finals: Women's triple jump (17:50), men's long jump (19:34), women's 1500m (20:00), men's 1500m (20:15), women's 60m hurdles (20:43), men's 60m hurdles (20:53)
Saturday, 8 March
08:45-12:30 & 18:00-21:00 BBC Two
Finals: Men's triple jump (17:40), women's pole vault (18:35), men's high jump (19:09), women's long jump (19:29), men's heptathlon 1000m (19:45), men's 400m (20:10), men's 60m (20:40), women's 400m (20:50)
Sunday, 9 March
09:00-12:15 & 14:00-18:30 BBC Two
Finals: Men's shot put (15:28), women's 800m (15:33), men's pole vault (15:42), men's 3,000m (15:50), women's high jump (16:05), men's 800m (16:27), women's 3,000m (16:36), women's shot put (16:52), women's pentathlon 800m (17:03), men's 4x400m relay (17:24), women's 60m (17:37), women's 4x400m relay (17:50)