| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | Belgian | |||||||||||
| Born | 25 October 1996 Tongeren, Belgium | |||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||
| Sport | Long-distance running, cross-country running | |||||||||||
| Event | Marathon | |||||||||||
Medal record
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Dieter Kersten (born 25 October 1996) is a Belgian athlete who specializes in long distance and cross-country running.
Kersten took part in the 2015 European Athletics Junior Championships in the 10,000 m, winning the bronze medal. [1] In 2016, he became Belgian indoor champion in the 3000 m for the first time. In cross-country running, Kersten finished eighth in 2015 at the European U20 Cross Country Championships. The following year, he finished tenth in the U23 and won silver in the country classification with the Belgian team.
In April 2021, Kersten ran the Enschede Marathon in 2:10.22 on his marathon debut, making him eligible to participate in the 2020 Summer Olympics. [2]
Kenenisa Bekele Beyecha is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He was the world record holder in both the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre from 2004 until 2020. He won the gold medal in both the 5,000 m and 10,000 m events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. At the 2004 Olympics, he won the gold medal in the 10,000 m and the silver medal in the 5,000 m.
Dathan James Ritzenhein is a retired American long-distance runner, and current head coach of the On Athletics Club (OAC). He held the American record in the 5,000 metres (12:56.27) from 2009 to 2010, until it was broken by Bernard Lagat. He is a three-time national cross country champion with wins at the USA Cross Country Championships in 2005, 2008 and 2010. Formerly a Nike athlete for the majority of his professional career, Dathan joined the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project team in 2017. In early May 2020, he announced his retirement from competition. He signed with the Swiss shoe brand On shortly thereafter in June 2020 and currently acts as the coach for the OAC in Boulder, Colorado.
Inga Eduardovna Abitova is a Russian long-distance runner, who specializes in the 10,000 metres and the marathon. She was the 2006 European Champion in the 10,000 m and reached the final at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Günther Weidlinger is an Austrian long-distance runner who is a former 3000 metres steeplechase specialist but now competes in the marathon.
Galen Rupp is an American long-distance runner. He competed in the Summer Olympics in 2008 in Beijing, 2012 in London, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and 2021 in Tokyo. He won the silver medal in the men's 10,000 meters in London and the bronze medal in the men's marathon in Rio de Janeiro. Rupp competed for the University of Oregon and trained under Alberto Salazar as a member of the Nike Oregon Project. He won the 2017 Chicago Marathon, becoming the first American to do so since Khalid Khannouchi in 2002. Rupp won the marathon at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials in Atlanta with a time of 2:09:20, and qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, where he finished eighth.
Sport in Belgium plays a prominent role in the society. As of 2010, Belgium counted around 17,000 sport clubs with approximately 1.35 million members, or about 13% of the Belgian population. Popular sports in Belgium are, among others: football, cycling, tennis, table tennis, athletics, swimming, basketball, badminton, judo, hockey, rowing, motocross, auto racing, volleyball, and running. Belgium has organized the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp as well as the 1972 UEFA European Championship and the 2000 UEFA European Championship along with the Netherlands. The Belgium national football team's best result was a 3rd place at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and a second place of the 1980 UEFA European Championship. Belgian football clubs have won 3 times the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and twice the UEFA Cup, plus 3 times the UEFA Supercup.
Jéssica de Barros Augusto, ComM is a Portuguese runner who competes in cross country, road running and in middle-distance and long-distance track events. At club level, she represents Sporting CP.
Daniele Meucci is an Italian athlete who specialises in long-distance running, including track running, cross country and road running who won twenty medals at international level.
Morhad Amdouni is a French middle- and long-distance runner. He won the gold medal in the 10,000 metres and bronze for the 5000 metres at the 2018 European Athletics Championships.
Charlotte Lucy Purdue is a British long-distance runner who competes in the Marathon and Half Marathon, as well as cross country running for Aldershot, Farnham and District Athletics Club. After winning a number of youth titles at national level, she had her first international success at the European Cross Country Championships, winning medals in the junior races of 2007 and 2008. She was also the best European junior at the World Cross Country Championships those years.
Andrew James Vernon is a British long-distance runner who specialised in the 5000 metres, the 10,000 metres on track and cross country running. After the 2018 commonwealth games and started to concentrate on the roads winning Manchester Half Marathon with the aim of doing a full marathon in 2019. Vernon competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the men's 10,000 metres. He has also competed in two Commonwealth Games, a World Indoor Championship and six World Cross Country Championships. Vernon is a two-time European Athletics Championship medallist and a Summer Universiade gold medallist. He currently competes for Aldershot, Farnham & District AC.
Suguru Osako is a Japanese long-distance runner. He won the 10,000 metres gold medal at the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen and holds the Asian junior record for the half marathon. He held the Japanese National Record for the marathon of 2:05:29 set at the 2020 Tokyo Marathon, where he finished fourth.
Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal is a Norwegian middle-, long-distance and steeplechase runner. She won bronze medals for the 10,000 metres at the 2016 European Championships, and in the 3000 m steeplechase at the 2018 European Championships. Grøvdal earned nine individual medals at the European Cross Country Championships, an unsurpassed record by a female athlete in the meet history.
Sifan Hassan is an Ethiopian-born Dutch middle- and long-distance runner. She is most recognized for her versatility in running championship and world leading performances in widely disparate distances. She completed an unprecedented triple at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning gold medals in both the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres and a bronze medal for the 1,500 metres. Hassan is the only athlete in Olympic history to win medals across a middle-distance event and both long-distance races in a single Games. She is only the second woman to complete an Olympic distance double. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Hassan secured a bronze medal in the women's 5,000 metres.
Bashir Abdi is a Somali-born Belgian long-distance runner. He won bronze medals in the marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2022 World Championships. In doing so, Abdi became both the first ever Belgian world championship medal winner at the marathon and the first Belgian male athlete to win an individual medal at both the Olympic Games and World Athletics Championships. He claimed silver in the 10,000 metres at the 2018 European Championships. He finished second and third at the 2020 Tokyo Marathon and 2022 London Marathon respectively. Abdi is the European record holder for the marathon.
Tadesse Abraham is an Eritrean-born Swiss long-distance runner who specialises in the marathon. He was the 2016 European half marathon champion and finished seventh at the 2016 Olympics. He won a silver medal in the marathon at the 2018 European Championships. He also held two Swiss titles for the 10,000 metres in 2020 as well as the marathon in 2022.
Koen Naert is a Belgian athlete who specializes in cross-country and long-distance running.
John Barry Nuttall was a British male long-distance runner who competed in track and cross country running. He competed for Great Britain at the 1996 Summer Olympics. He also represented his country twice at the World Championships in Athletics and five times at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. He was a silver medallist at the 1994 IAAF World Cup and a bronze medallist at the 1994 Commonwealth Games.
Veronica Inglese is an Italian long-distance runner. She won a silver medal at the 2016 European Athletics Championships.
John Heymans is a Belgian long-distance runner. He has won two national titles. He is a member of Royal Excelsior Club Brussels. After finishing his MSc in Bioengineering and Nanotechnology from the KU Leuven in September 2022, he decided to become a professional athlete.
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