Neil ready for final after fine run in Apeldoorn – but Erin misses out

Thursday 6th March 2025

Photo via British Athletics

Neil and Erin head for Netherlands with GB and NI

Neil Gourley will race in the European Indoors final on Friday night.

The Scot cruised through his Men’s 1500m heat on Thursday evening in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands.

Neil won a silver in this event two years ago in Istanbul and would love to repeat that podium place in 2025.

Now he is up against Jakob Ingebrigtsen – champion in Turkey in 2025 – once again with Friday’s final scheduled for 8.15pm (our time) with coverage on BBC Sport.

Neil had to be aware of his position throughout the race but ultimately found the right gaps to pull away for victory in 3:40.24.

‘From my point of view it was a little bit of a scrappy race, but I wouldn’t expect anything otherwise,’ said Neil.

‘These indoor heats always are and it is just a case of being calm, waiting for my moment to move and kind of letting some other people panic if they want to do that.

‘I waited for my moment and yeah once I moved, I felt confident that no one was going to come past me. I’m happy with my timing and position.’

‘I was comfortable (when he got blocked) there because from that point of view you either go to the front and you really charge to make that move count or you just stay in lane one – particularly when these banks are so steep. There’s quite a lot of energy wasted to run wide.

‘So, my plan was just to stay inside as long as possible. The track is steep and took me back to running as a kid in the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow.’

Photo via European Athletics

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Erin Wallace was in 800m action on Friday morning and it was good to see her back in European Championship action for GB and NI.

The Giffnock athlete took third place on a photo finish in the opening heat with a run of 2:03.38.

But with five heats in total the time was ultimately overtaken as one of the non-automatic qualifying places and Erin missed out on the semis.

‘I was close to not doing this at all because I have just had quite a tough month coming into it, so I wasn’t sure it was something I would be able to handle, so I am proud of myself for putting myself back into this environment,’ said Erin.

‘Other races I have done (this season) haven’t gone well, and I have come away feeling quite upset about them.

‘In that one I felt I got out quite strong and I kept my composure and tried to push on at the end. That was what I was planning on doing and third was just the result of it.’

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