For minutes, Niels Laros sit still on a metal staircase next to the athletics track in the immense stadium in Tokyo. He takes a sip every now and then, slowly takes off his spikes. A Japanese volunteer comes to look carefully at him. Is Laros okay?
Physically though. But mentally, Laros is knockout. Fifth he has just become in the World Cup final of the 1,500 meters. At a hundred meters from the finish, he seems to have everything under control, but on the latter, long, straight, four men stick him by; The Portuguese Isaac is becoming world champion.
The dismay is great; Not only at Laros itself, but also with the public, which is audibly shocked by the climax on the track, and the journalists in the stands. Laros was the big favorite with the bookmakers.
How is it possible that the expectations for an athlete that is only twenty were so high? And what went wrong in the final?
Ambitionless
When Laros made his World Cup debut in Budapest two years ago, he was another teenager, also in his actions. Surprisingly, he made it to the final, he thought so too. “Wk final, come on, right, can I be happy with that?”, He responded fiercely when he was asked about his happy response afterwards. He became tenth, after he used his final sprint too early in the final.
A year later, Laros surprised everyone by saying that he wanted to participate in the medals at the Olympic Games in Paris. That seemed unlikely, especially after the European Championship in Rome, where Laros did not go through the series due to a tactical error. But at the Games he was in top form and he became sixth. He was then named European Athletics Talent of the Year.
This year Laros again set higher goals for himself. In return for NRC He said he was not satisfied with just a final place. “To say that I only want to gain experience this year, I find ambitious. I am now part of the world top.” He announced that he wanted to go for the medals. “I think that is also realistic.”
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The Dutch athlete came to the World Cup after a season full of victories in the Diamond League. In Eugene, he won the prestigious miles (1,609 meters) for Americans, was the fastest in Brussels in 1,500 meters and did that again a few days later in Zurich. It resulted in Laros de Diamond League trophy as the best male athlete in the 1,500 meters this season.
Once the World Cup started, the young Dutchman convincingly won both his series and his semi -final. In the final he would appear at the start as the athlete with the fastest season time (3.29.20, also the Dutch record).
Although others had been faster this year, they were missing for various reasons or were eliminated earlier. The two Olympic champions from 2021 and 2024, Jakob Inbritsen and Cole Hocker, did not survive the series and semi -final respectively. The Frenchman Azeddine Habz, the man with the fastest season time of all, summarized it after his elimination in the French press: “This is a cruel sport.”
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Overwhelmed
The competition for Laros seems to have to come in the final mainly from the world champions of 2019, 2022 and 2023: the Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot and the British Jake Wightman and Josh Kerr.
Laros rushes forward immediately after the starting shot. The first one and a half round he is in the lead, he does not determine it too fast. Then Cheruiyot takes over the lead, and Laros nestles in his wake.
When the athletes turn the last right end in a platoon, Laros seems to be in the ideal position to steam to a historic world title with his gear, which has been superior all year round. But then he is overtaken by his competitors, and the Dutchman cannot go. With a grimace of the effort, he pushes himself over the finish line in fifth.
While closer, Wightman (who becomes second) and the Kenyan Reynold Cheruiyot (no family) get the flags of their homeland in hand, Laros lonely runs to the other side of the stadium. His parents are there. If they hug him, Laros will remain motionless against the stands.
“Disappointed,” he starts his story with the media afterwards. “I was here at the starting line with the idea that I could really get gold, every step to this final was perfect. And I thought I was carrying out the race very well, the racing course was also almost perfect. I was in a position to win, as I have been doing all season.”
“Only the last eighty meters did I have the idea that I was no longer in control. My kick let me down. I don’t know either, I just didn’t have the legs. That I miss the last bit, that’s really crazy.”
Laros can play this tournament again if he wants: he also qualified for the 5,000 meters. But in recent weeks he left it in the middle whether he would start there, and he doesn’t know it just after the game either. “No idea. I’m going to recover, then sit with the team and then I make a decision.
Does the 5,000 meters not offer him a good chance of revenge? “Who knows,” Laros says so softly that it is hard to understand, bent his head and collapsed his long, slender form. Then he gets away.