 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 13 March 1996 London, England |
| Home town | London, England |
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
| Weight | 60 kg (132 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Track and field |
| Event | 400 metres hurdles |
| Club | Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal bests |
|
Medal record | |
Lina Nielsen (born 13 March 1996) is a British sprinter, [1] hurdler and yoga instructor.
Nielsen won the 400 m hurdles at the 2021 European Athletics Team Championships with 55.59. Nielsen has a twin sister, Laviai Nielsen, who is also an international athlete over 400m. [2] [3]
At the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Nielsen won a bronze medal as part of the 4x400 metres relay team which also included her sister Laviai Nielsen. [4]
After winning the 400 metres hurdles gold medal at the 2024 British Athletics Championships, Nielsen was subsequently named in the Great Britain team for the 2024 Summer Olympics [5] where she went out in the semi-finals after hitting a hurdle and falling to the track. Recovering from that setback, Nielsen ran for Great Britain in the heat of the women's 4 x 400 metre relay, qualifying for the final in second place. Although, like her three fellow heat runners, she did not run the final, the third place finish for the Great Britain team in that final confirmed that Nielsen had won her first Olympic medal, a bronze. [6]
Nielsen grew up in Leytonstone, East London. [7] Her mother is Egyptian-Sudanese and her father is Danish. [8] In 2017, she graduated from Queen Mary University of London with a degree in chemistry.
Lina is also a yoga teacher, having undertaken her teaching training in Rishikesh in the summer of 2019. She is now one of the yoga instructors on the fitness app Fiit. [9]
In August 2022, Nielsen revealed she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, [10] at the age of 17. She chose to keep her diagnosis private for nine years, but following a relapse two days prior to her World Athletics Championships heats in Oregon she decided to go public with her story. [11]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | European Junior Championships | Eskilstuna, Sweden | 8th | 400 m | 54.72 |
| 1st | 4 x 400 m relay | 3:34.36 | |||
| 2017 | European Indoor Championships | Belgrade, Serbia | — | 400 m sh | DNS |
| European U23 Championships | Bydgoszcz, Poland | 4th | 4 x 400 m relay | 3:30.74 | |
| 2021 | European Team Championships, Super League | Chorzów, Poland | 1st | 400 m hurdles | 3:29.27 |
| 2nd | 4 x 400 m relay | 3:27.16 | |||
| 2022 | World Championships | Eugene, United States | 33rd (h) | 400 m hurdles | 57.42 |
| Commonwealth Games | Birmingham, United Kingdom | 11th (h) | 400 m hurdles | 58.95 | |
| European Championships | Munich, Germany | 21st (sf) | 400 m hurdles | 57.19 | |
| 2024 | World Indoor Championships | Glasgow, United Kingdom | 3rd | 4 x 400 m relay | 3:26.36 |
| European Championships | Rome, Italy | 7th | 400 m hurdles | 55.65 | |
| Olympic Games | Paris, France | 3rd | 4 x 400 m relay | 3:24.72 [12] | |
| 24th (sf) [13] | 400 m hurdles | 1:31.22 |
Angelo F. Taylor is an American track and field athlete, winner of 400-meter hurdles at the 2000 and 2008 Summer Olympics. His personal record for the hurdles event is 47.25 seconds. His time puts him in a tie with Félix Sánchez for the #14 performer of all time. Sánchez also won two Olympic gold medals, in 2004 between Taylor's two golds and 2012, immediately following. Taylor also has a 400-meter dash best of 44.05 seconds, ranking him as the joint 29th performer of all time, superior to any other athlete who has made a serious effort in the 400 metres hurdles. He won the bronze medal in the 400 m at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics.
Christine Ijeoma Ohuruogu, MBE is a British former track and field athlete who specialised in the 400 metres, the event for which she is an Olympic, World and Commonwealth champion. The Olympic champion in 2008, and silver medalist in 2012, she is a double World Champion, having won the 400 m at the 2007 and 2013 World Championships. She has also won six World championship medals in the women's 4 × 400 m relay as part of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team and bronze Olympic medals in the women's 4 × 400 m relay at the 2008 Beijing Games and the 2016 Rio Games, her final Olympics. Ohuruogu shares with Merlene Ottey and Usain Bolt the record for medalling in most successive global championships – 9 – between the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Victoria Barr is a British track and field athlete who competes in the 400 metres sprint. Her personal best for the event is 52.40 seconds. She is a frequent member of the British 4×400 m relay team and won a bronze medal at the European Athletics Championships in 2010. She was a silver medallist in the relay for England at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Peirresha Alexandra Shakes-Drayton is a British retired track and field athlete. After specialising in the 400 metres hurdles in the early part of her career, a knee injury at the 2013 World Championships forced Shakes-Drayton to concentrate on the 400 metres on her return to athletics. She is the 2013 European Indoor Champion in the 400 metres and won a 2012 World Indoor Championship gold medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay. She has also won silver and bronze medals in the 4 × 400 m relay at the World Championships.
David "Dai" Greene is a Welsh retired hurdler who specialised in the 400 metres hurdles, competing internationally for both Wales and Great Britain, as well as Europe in the IAAF Intercontinental Cup.
Eilidh Doyle is a retired British track and field athlete. Originally running as Eilidh Child, she specialised in the 400 metres hurdles outdoors, and the 400 metres flat indoors, as well as the 4 x 400 metres relay on both surfaces. She represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. Individually, she is the 2014 European Champion and a three-time Commonwealth silver medalist in the 400 metres hurdles.
Jack Green is a British sprint athlete who specialises in the 400m distance, along with the hurdles and the 4 × 400 m relay. He competed for the Great Britain team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Verona Marolin Elder MBE is a female British, Commonwealth and European medal winning English 400 metres runner and is now the manager of the British athletics team for people with learning disability.
Ashley Spencer is an American track and field athlete who competes in the 400 metres and the 400 metres hurdles. In the 400m hurdles, she is the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist. In the 400m, she is the 2012 World Junior Champion and the 2016 World Indoor silver medalist. She is coached by 1996 Olympic bronze medalist Tonya Buford-Bailey.
Kadeena Cox is a parasport athlete competing in T38 para-athletics sprint events and C4 para-cycling and British television presenter. She was part of the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships and the 2016 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, in which she won world titles in the T37 100m and C4 500m time trial respectively.
Sydney Michelle McLaughlin-Levrone is an American hurdler and sprinter who competes in the 400 meters hurdles and is the world record holder in that event. She has won gold in the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics, as well as the 2022 World Athletics Championships. She set a world record time of 50.37 seconds at the 2024 Summer Olympics on August 8, 2024, breaking her own old world record of 50.65 seconds. She is the first track athlete to break four world records in the same event; setting four world records during 13 months, she was the first woman to break the 52-second and 51-second barriers in the 400 m hurdles. She won the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships. At all four competitions, she also took gold as part of a women's 4 × 400 m relay team.
Laviai Nielsen is a British sprinter specialising in the 400 metres. She won several medals as a member of the Great Britain 4x400 metres relay teams, including silver at the 2017 World Championships in the women's 4 x 400 metres, and at the 2023 World Championships in the mixed 4 x 400 metres, and bronze in the women's 4 x 400 metres at the 2022 World Championships. She won two bronze medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics as part of both British 4 x 400 metres relay teams, mixed and women categories.
Yvette Julie Wray is a female former English pentathlete, hurdler and sprinter. Born in Scraptoft, Leicestershire, she competed for Great Britain at the Olympic Games in Moscow 1980. She also represented England at the Commonwealth Games in 1978 and 1982, winning two bronze medals.
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Alastair Chalmers is a British track and field hurdler who specialises in the 400 metres hurdles. He won Guernsey's first-ever Commonwealth Games track and field medal when he took bronze at the 2022 edition and he is a five-time British 400m hurdles champion.
Jessie Knight is an English athlete specialising in the 400 metres hurdles.
Nicole Yeargin is a British-American athlete representing Great Britain who specialises in the 400 metres. She won major medals as part of British women's and mixed 4 x 400 m relays, including bronzes at the 2022 World Athletics Championships and 2023 World Athletics Championships. She won two bronze medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics as part of both the British mixed and women's 4 x 400 metres relay teams.
Ali Smith is a British Paralympic athlete who competes in 100 metres, 400 metres, and 4x100m Universal Relay events. At the age of 25, Ali was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis after noticing she was having abnormal symptoms. In 2017 she picked up para-athletics after loving track and field as a child before her disability.
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