Neil disappointed with fourth after bumpy Men’s 1500m final in Apeldoorn

Saturday 8th March 2025

Neil in action in the heats on Thursday (photo via European Athletics)

Neil Gourley had to settle for fourth place in the European Indoors 2025 on Friday night in Apeldoorn.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen was hot favourite for gold and duly delivered in that Men’s 1500m final.

French athlete Azeddine Habz and Portugal’s Isaac Nader led Gourley at the bell and, while the Scot did challenge until the closing stages, the duo had enough to claim the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Neil had been hoping to repeat his podium place from these championships two years ago – he was silver medallist to Ingebrigtsen in Istanbul in 2023.

The Scot’s run was disrupted mid-race by a collision which saw German athlete, Robert Farken, drop out DNF and that seemed to have an effect on Neil’s finish. His time was 3:38.29 with Jakob winning in 3:36.56.

‘I’m a bit battered but fine,’ said Neil, candid as ever when assessing his races.

‘Sometimes you make your own luck in races, and I maybe didn’t put myself in the best spot to deal with all the carnage . . . such is the event. I’ll put myself in better positions in the future that one I just got a bit wrong today.

‘I was happy with how I felt early on in the race I was full of running, ready to move when the race kicked off. Unfortunately when it kicked off, everybody was diving on top of each other and I was caught in that.’