Niels Laros has made himself speak again. The 20-year-old athlete from Oosterhout took the European title under the age of 23 on Saturday evening at the 5000 meters. Laros was the first to cross the finish after 13 minutes and 44.74 seconds. He set his sights on twice gold during this European Championship.
Laros beat the Irishman Nicholas Griggs (13.45.80) and the Brit Will Barnicoat (13.46.11) in the final round of the 5 kilometers. At the end of June he also won at this distance, that was during the European Championships for country teams in the Spanish capital Madrid. The European individual championships are being held this weekend in Bergen, Norwegian.
Second gold?
Laros hopes to take a second gold medal there on Sunday, and the 800 meters. He qualified for the final of that part on Friday by becoming a third in 1.44.19. It was an improvement of almost 0.6 seconds of his personal record. With this time he has qualified for the World Cup Athletics in Tokyo.
At the European Championships under 18 in 2022 and the European Championship under 20 in 2023, he always won double gold.
Two weeks ago, Laros already booked a sensational victory over the English miles during the Diamond-League fitting in Eugene, USA. The Oosterhoutse athlete won the race in a Dutch record of 3.45.94. He took almost three seconds from the previous national top time, which was also in his name.