Laros has Achilles surgery after injury-hit year
The 2025 Diamond League 1500m champion says operation went well and "the real recovery has begun"
Niels Laros, the forgotten man of men's middle-distance running this year, has revealed he underwent Achilles tendon surgery four weeks ago.
The 21-year-old Dutchman has not raced since finishing second in the Paris Diamond League on June 28, when he clocked a PB of 1:43.60 for 800m behind Canada's Marco Arop (1:41.84). It was only the second race of a season that has been badly disrupted by the same problem that forced him out of last year's World Championships in Tokyo.
Laros posted the news on social media, saying: "Four weeks ago I had Achilles surgery. The injury that led to the DNF in Tokyo last year and unfortunately kept me off the track more often than on it this year is (hopefully) fixed. The surgery went well, and now the real recovery has begun. Time to put in the hard work and get back on track.
"Thanks a lot to the surgeon, hospital staff and my medical team for all the effort they have put in to get me healthy again!"
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Laros returned to action in late June at the FBK Games in Hengelo after eight months out, winning the 800m in 1:43.83, his first time under 1:44, before improving again in Paris. In July it was announced he would miss the European Championships in Birmingham and focus on next season.
It is a frustrating period for an athlete who appeared to be the next big star of the 1500m. Last August he won the Diamond League final in Zurich, storming past a top-class field in a Dutch record of 3:29.20 to add to series wins in Eugene and Brussels. He later finished fifth in the 1500m at the World Championships in Tokyo before dropping out of the 5000m with the Achilles problem.
Born in Oosterhout in 2005, Laros has been a prodigy since his teens. He won European under-18 titles at 1500m and 3000m in 2022, and the European under-20 1500m and 5000m double a year later. That same summer, aged 18, he made the World Championships 1500m final in Budapest.
He is the world under-20 record-holder for 1000m with 2:14.37, and in 2024 won the European under-20 cross country title. That year he finished sixth in the 1500m at the Paris Olympic Games.
His 2025 was even more successful. He opened with a Dutch indoor 3000m record of 7:29.49, ran 13:10.86 for 5000m and upset Olympic bronze medallist Yared Nuguse to win the Pre Classic mile in a Dutch record of 3:45.94. He then completed an 800m and 5000m double at the European under-23 Championships in Bergen.
