Nafi Thiam passes on indoor competitions to focus on outdoor season
Heptathlete Nafi Thiam will not participate in indoor competitions this winter, her team has announced, as she focuses on the outdoor season.
“We can confirm that Nafi will not be in action during the indoor season and will therefore not participate in the upcoming European Championships and World Indoor Championships,” the 30-year-old’s management told Belga on Tuesday.
The European Championships are scheduled from 6-9 March in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, with the World Championships following in Nanjing, China, from 21-23 March.
Thiam is a three-time European indoor pentathlon champion, winning in 2017, 2021 and 2023. The World Indoor is the only major honour she has not won. She has competed only once at the event, in 2014 in Poland, where she finished eighth in the high jump.
Thiam, who trains in South Africa, is now fully focusing on the outdoor season. The most important event in her calendar is the World Championships, which takes place from 13-21 September in Tokyo. She will be looking for her third heptathlon world title there, following victories in 2017 and 2022.
Teammate Noor Vidts, who took bronze to join Thiam on the Olympic podium in 2024, won the pentathlon at last year’s European Indoor Championships in Glasgow. She was the first athlete to successfully defend the title.
Nafi Thiam at the Memorial Van Damme athletics event in Brussels, September 2024 © BELGA PHOTO TOM GOYVAERTS
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