TORUN (DA) — TeamNL closed the World Athletics Indoor Championships with four medals at the March 20-22 meet in Poland, while Curaçao-linked athletes Taymir Burnet and Elisabeth Paulina also made their mark for the Dutch team.
The Netherlands returned home with one gold, two silver and one bronze medal. Burnet finished sixth in the world in the men’s 60 meters, and Paulina helped the women’s 4×400-meter team reach the final before the Dutch claimed silver.
Burnet advanced convincingly to the 60-meter final and clocked 6.61 seconds to finish sixth.
“It is always nice to run indoors,” Burnet said. “When I ran the national record in the 60 meters, I knew I wanted to test myself here against the world’s best.”
Paulina ran in the women’s 4×400 heats alongside Madelief van Leur as TeamNL secured its place in the final. In the medal race, Lieke Klaver, Myrte van der Schoot, Nina Franke and Eveline Saalberg delivered silver for the Netherlands.
TeamNL’s medal haul was led by Sofie Dokter, who won gold in the pentathlon and set a national record with 4,888 points. Nadine Visser added silver in the 60-meter hurdles, while Klaver took bronze in the 400 meters.
On the men’s side, Eugene Omalla, Liemarvin Bonevacia, Max van der Lugt and Tony van Diepen moved the Dutch 4×400 team into the final. In the final, Keenan Blake replaced Van der Lugt, and the Netherlands narrowly missed the podium.
Technical director Chiel Warners said the result reflected the strength of Dutch athletics despite several near-misses.
“With historic gold for Sofie Dokter and seventh place in the medal table, TeamNL in Torun proved that Dutch athletics, across the board, belongs among the absolute world elite,” Warners said.