Kenny van Weeghel

Last updated

Kenny van Weeghel
Kenny van Weeghel 2006 World Championship.jpg
At the 2006 IPC World Championships
Personal information
Full nameKenny van Weeghel
NationalityDutch
Born (1980-09-16) 16 September 1980 (age 45)
Website kennyvanweeghel.nl
Sport
CountryNetherlands
Sport Paralympic athletics
Disability class T54
Event
Wheelchair racing
Coached byArno Mul
Achievements and titles
Paralympic finals 2004 Summer Paralympics

Kenny van Weeghel (born 16 September 1980 in Zwolle) is a Paralympic athlete from the Netherlands competing in the 100, 200 and 400 m T54 class wheelchair racing. [1] He participated in the Paralympic games six times already and he has won 6 Paralympic medals among which two golden ones.

Contents

Athletics career

Weeghel won the 200m at the European Championships in 2001. This was his first main title and there were many to come. In 2002 he became World Champion by winning the 100m and a year later he won both the 100m and 200m during the World Championships. At the European Championships that same year (2003) he won the 200m and 400m.

At the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, he won his first three Paralympic medals: bronze on the 100m, silver on the 200m and gold on the 400m. [2] He was elected Dutch handicapped sportsman of the year. [3]

In 2005 the World Championships in Athletics were held in Helsinki and T54 wheelchair racing was added to the program as an exhibition event. In both the 100m and 200m he won the silver medal behind British athlete David Weir. [4]

In 2006, in Assen in the Netherlands, he became once more World Champion 200m, while taking second place (by a mere 0.01 s) on the 100 m behind David Weir. [5]

Van Weeghel won a silver medal at the Paralympic Games in 2012 in London (400m) and won two Paralympic medals at the Rio de Janeiro Paralympic games in 2016; gold for the 400m and bronze for the 100m.

Personal records

DisciplineResultPlaceDateNotes
100 m13,78Arbon24 June 2010
200 m24,22Arbon27 May 2017European Record
400 m45,40Arbon27 May 2017
800 m1:32,80Arbon28 May 2017
1500 m3:01,30Nottwil27 May 2016

Awards

References

  1. "Official website". kennyvanweeghel.nl (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 15 February 2008.
  2. Wereldvanoranje.nl Profile (in Dutch)
  3. NOCNSF.nl Gehandicapte sporter van het jaar (in Dutch)
  4. IAAF.org Biography
  5. sax.nu Goud voor Kenny van Weeghel op WK (in Dutch)
Kenny van Weeghel on the left at the World Championships in Lyon in 2013. 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships - 26072013 - Kenny van Weeghel of Netherlands and Marc Schuh of Germany during the Men's 100m - T54 final.jpg
Kenny van Weeghel on the left at the World Championships in Lyon in 2013.