He is only eighteen years old, but running talent Niels Laros from Oosterhout can already write his name behind the Dutch record in the 1500 meters. In a race in Nice he ran a time of 3:32.89. Exactly the same time as record holder Gert-Jan Liefers ran in 2001. Niels is therefore the first to match that in more than twenty years.
“Very special. I never expected this”, Niels responds. “I didn’t think I was already at this level, so that makes it extra fun.”
Niels ran in Nice at a speed of about 25 km per hour. He came in second, right behind Ireland’s Andrew Coscoran. He himself doesn’t know how he can run so fast with his legs under his body. “Every time I ran that speed, I asked myself how I was going to keep it up for 1500 meters. But in a match you still switch and then it works.”
“You feel a lot of acidification, your legs slowly stop working.”
But for that he had to go to the hole. Few people will be able to hurt themselves like Niels. “The first 800 meters is still possible, then it is pushing and the last phase is survival,” he says. “You feel a lot of acidification, your legs slowly stop working. And then you have to try to keep up that pace.”
“It is an honor that I can share the record with him.”
Former record holder Gert-Jan Liefers ran his record on August 24, 2001. He now has to share the record with the top talent from Oosterhout. “That doesn’t happen very often, so that’s funny,” says Niels. “He was a very good athlete, so it’s an honor to share the record with him. But eventually I hope to break it.”
Niels does not know when that chance will come again, but his next goal is to become European Champion under 20 in August. And thanks to his performance in the 1500 meters, he can participate in the World Cup in Budapest that same month. “Winning there will be a lot more difficult. Because there is still a big gap between me and the real world top,” says Niels modestly. “But you never know.”