| 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. [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]
Lina is also a yoga teacher, having undertaken her teaching training in Rikshikesh in the summer of 2019. She is now one of the yoga instructors on the fitness app Fiit. [6]
| 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 |
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.
In August 2022, Nielsen revealed she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, [9] 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. [10]
Kelly Jade Sotherton is a British former heptathlete, long jumper and relay runner. In the heptathlon she was the bronze medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics and, following the disqualification of two other athletes, also at the 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as being part of the bronze medal-winning team in the Women's 4x400m relay at the 2008 Summer Olympics. As such she is one of only five women to win multiple medals in Olympic heptathlon. She also won a bronze at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. Representing England, Sotherton is a one-time Commonwealth Games champion, as the heptathlon gold medallist at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
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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.
Tiffany Adaeze Porter is a track and field athlete with joint British and American nationality who specialises in the 100 metres hurdles. She represented the United States as a junior, but began representing Great Britain in 2010 on joining the senior ranks after moving to England and competed for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Andrew William Pozzi is a retired British hurdling athlete. He was the 2018 indoor World Champion at 60 metres hurdles. He was the 2012 UK 60m and 110m Champion and holds the record for the fastest ever time run by a UK junior hurdler. The record time, 13.29 seconds, was set on 3 July 2011 in Mannheim, Germany at the Bauhaus Junior Gala.
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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.
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.
Molly Caudery is a British athlete who competes in the pole vault event for England and Great Britain. Caudery is the 2024 World Indoor champion. She was also a silver medalist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and took bronze at the 2024 European Athletics Championships.
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Ali Smith is a British Paralympic athlete who competes in 100 metres, 400 metres, and 4X100m Universal Relay events in international level 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.
Alex Haydock-Wilson is a British track and field athlete. In 2023, he became British 400 metres champion.
Yemi Mary John is a British track and field athlete. She won the gold medal in the 400 metres at the 2022 World Athletics Under-20 Championships.
Amber Anning is a British sprinter. She is the British record holder indoors over 200m and she was part of British teams that won medals in the women's 4 × 400 metres relay events at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships and 2023 World Athletics Championships. She also won medals at the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games and the 2019 European Athletics U20 Championships. Anning competed in college athletics for LSU Tigers and Arkansas Razorbacks.
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