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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | Belgian | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 19 May 1997 Antwerp, Belgium | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Paulien Couckuyt (born 19 May 1997) is a Belgian track and field athlete who specializes in middle-distance running and 400 metres hurdles. [1]
In July 2019 she won the gold medal in the women's 400 metres hurdles at the European Athletics U23 Championships in Gävle, Sweden posting a personal best of 56.17s. [2] [3] [4] In September Couckuyt ran another personal best in the 400 metres hurdles at the Belgian Athletics Championships posting a time of 55.46s and with this time, she qualified for the 2019 World Athletics Championships. [5] [6] In October, she represented Belgium at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, competing in women's 400 metres hurdles and women's 4 × 400 metres relay. [7] [8]
In May 2021, Couckuyt represented Belgium in the heats and final of the women's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2021 World Athletics Relays in Chorzów, Poland where the Belgium team finished 7th in the final. [9] [10] Still in May, she ran a new personal best at the IFAM meeting in Oordegem, Belgium, and with a time of 55.37s met the qualification criterium for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. [11] [12] At the 2020 Summer Olympic Games she finished 3th in her round 1 heat, setting a personal best and new national record of 54.90s, [13] and proceeded to the semi-final where she finished 3th and was eliminated setting again a personal best and new national record of 54.47s. [14] She also ran in the heats and final of the women's 4 × 400 metres relay with the Belgium team finishing 7th in the final. [15]
In July 2022 she ran in final of the women's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon finishing 6th. [16] [17] She also participated in the women's 400 metres hurdles reaching the semi-final. [18] Barely a month later, she ran in the heats of the women's 400 metres hurdles at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich, Germany but was eliminated in the heats. [19] In november 2022, while in training camp with Team Belgium, in Belek, Turkey, she incurred a serious injury to the anterior cruciate ligament of her left knee that required an operation and sidelined her for most of the 2023 season. [20] [21]
Having missed most of the 2023 season through injury, she spent spring and summer of 2024 chasing the automatic qualification mark of 54.85s for the women's 400 metres hurdles at the 2024 Summer Olympics. On the last day of the Olympic qualification period, on June 30, she ran a 54.94s at the Belgian Athletics Championships, still not meeting the automatic qualification mark, but the time proved good enough to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France via the World Athletics Rankings. [22] At the Olympics, she reached the semi-final stage. [23]
The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is one lap around the track. Runners start in staggered positions and race in separate lanes for the entire course. In many countries, athletes previously competed in the 440-yard dash (402.336 m)—which is a quarter of a mile and was referred to as the "quarter-mile"—instead of the 400 m (437.445 yards), though this distance is now obsolete.
Kerron Stephon Clement is a Trinidadian-born American track and field athlete who competes in the 400-meter hurdles and 400-meter sprint. He held the indoor world record in the 400-meter sprint, having broken Michael Johnson's mark in 2005.
The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap, totaling 1600 meters. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. The first leg and the first bend of the second leg are run in lanes. Start lines are thus staggered over a greater distance than in an individual 400 metres race; the runners then typically move to the inside of the track. The slightly longer 4 × 440 yards relay, on an Imperial distance, was a formerly run British Commonwealth and American event, until metrication was completed in the 1970s.
Marek Plawgo is a Polish athlete. He mainly competes in the 400 meters hurdles, but he also starts in the 400 meters and the 4 x 400 meters relay.
Dylan Borlée is a Belgian sprinter who competes in the 400 metres. He is a member of the Borlée family.
Sage Heather Walker is a Canadian athlete specializing in the 400 metres hurdles. Competing internationally for Canada, she is the reigning Pan American champion in the 400 m hurdles, having also won Pan American medals in 2015 and 2019 as part of Canada's relay team.
Cynthia Maduengele Bolingo Mbongo, known as Cynthia Bolingo, is a Belgian sprinter. In a career beset with injuries, she won the silver medal in the 400 metres at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships and the bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metres at the 2024 European Athletics Championships.
Ayomide Temilade Oluwatoyosi Folorunso is an Italian athlete specialising in the 400 metres hurdles. She competed in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing.
Laviai Nielsen is a British sprinter specialising in the 400 metres.
Kendall Ellis is an American sprinter. Ellis won gold in the 4x400 m relay and bronze in the Mixed 4x400 metres at the Tokyo Olympics. She competed in the 400 meters at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships, winning gold medals as a part of prelim 4×400 m relays. As a junior, Ellis took gold in the 4×400 m relay and bronze in the 400 meters at the 2015 Pan American Junior Championships.
Camille Laus is a Belgian athlete sprinter. She ran in the national team which placed 5th in the 4 × 400 m relay at the 2019 World Championships, setting Belgian record of 3:26.58 sec in the heats.
Imke Vervaet is a Belgian athlete. She competed at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics as a 200 metres runner and as a member of the Belgian women's 4x400 metres and mixed 4x400 metres relay teams. She also participated at multiple World and European Athletics championships, indoor and outdoor, individually and as a member of the 4x400 metres relay teams. She was national champion in the women's 200 metres in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2024.
The mixed 4 × 400 metres relay is a mixed-sex 4 × 400 metres relay in which teams field two men and two women. Since March 2022, team members have to run in the order man-woman-man-woman. It was introduced at the 2017 IAAF World Relays and was then held at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Qatar.
Shiann Salmon is a Jamaican track and field athlete who specializes in the 400 metres hurdles and 400 metres. She represented Jamaica at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, competing in women's 400 metres hurdles.
Femke Bol is a Dutch track and field athlete who competes in hurdling and sprinting. She specialises in the 400 metres hurdles, where she is the 2023 World Champion, and in the 400 metres, where she is the 2024 World Indoor Champion and the short track world record holder. In the 4 × 400 metres relay, she is the 2023 World Champion and the 2024 World Indoor Champion with the Dutch women's team and the 2024 Olympic Champion with the Dutch mixed team.
Naomi Van den Broeck is a Belgian sprinter. She represented Belgium at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo 2021, competing in women's 4 × 400 metres relay.
Helena Ponette is a Belgian sprinter specialising in the 400 metres. She competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics as a 400 metres runner and as a member of the Belgian women's 4x400 metres and mixed 4x400 metres relay teams. She also participated at multiple World and European Athletics championships, indoor and outdoor, individually and as a member of the 4x400 metres relay teams. She was national champion in the women's 400 metres in 2023.
Cathelijn Peeters is a Dutch track and field athlete who competes in hurdling and sprinting and previously competed in the combined events and hammer throw. Peeters specializes in the 400 metres hurdles and in the 400 metres. In the 4 × 400 metres relay, she is the 2023 World Champion and the 2024 World Indoor Champion with the Dutch women's team and the 2024 Olympic Champion with the Dutch mixed team.
European Athletics U23 Championships champions in women's 400 metres hurdles | |
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