Omnisport Apeldoorn opened in 2008, designed by the British firm FaulknerBrowns Architects. The name advertises the ambition: it is a velodrome, but it is also a multipurpose indoor arena, an athletics venue, a concert hall, a conference center, and - for six weeks every winter - an ice skating rink. The cycling oval wraps the building's heart. The central infield is engineered to be reconfigured: pull up the cycling-only floor, lay down a different surface, install temporary grandstands, and the same space that hosted the 2018 UCI Track Cycling World Championships becomes a 6,500-seat volleyball venue. In 2013, a wing was added to the complex housing the De Voorwaarts shopping center. The building has been busy from the day it opened.

The cycling hall has hosted some of the sport's biggest events. In 2011 the UCI Track Cycling World Championships came here, drawing the world's elite track riders for the rainbow jerseys. The 2015 UCI Track Para-Cycling World Championships followed. In May 2016, after the surface dramas, Apeldoorn hosted the opening time-trial stage of the Giro d'Italia - the Grande Partenza, the moment that launches the three-week Italian grand tour, was held in a Dutch velodrome rather than an Italian piazza. And in 2018 the UCI Track Cycling World Championships returned, this time on the freshly laid replacement surface. The track has now hosted top-level world championship cycling three times in less than a decade.

The infield does double duty as one of the most distinctive volleyball venues in Europe. With the cycling track curving up around the spectators, the sight lines are unusual but the atmosphere is intense - the steep banking funnels noise inward. Omnisport hosted preliminary-round matches of the 2015 Women's European Volleyball Championship, then returned to volleyball for the 2019 Men's European Volleyball Championship, and again for the final round of the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship. The conversion takes days, not hours: the cycling surface must be protected, the volleyball court built up to regulation height, and the temporary grandstands raised on the infield. By the time the players walk out, the cycling track has become invisible to fans, hidden behind the seats. But it is still there, waiting.

Since 2009, Omnisport's main hall has hosted the Dutch Indoor Athletics Championships and a roster of smaller meets. The next step came in summer 2024, when the athletics track was rebuilt with an optimized layout and new surface in preparation for the European Athletics Indoor Championships in 2025. That meet brought Europe's best indoor sprinters, jumpers, and middle-distance runners to Apeldoorn for three days of finals in front of national television audiences across the continent. During quieter weeks, the building still works for its weekday tenants - the educational institution ROC Aventus uses it for classes, and the volleyball club SV Dynamo trains here. The next world championships have not yet been scheduled. Given the building's record, they will come.