Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal

Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal (born 14 June 1990) is a Norwegian middle-, long-distance and steeplechase runner. She is a European Championships gold medallist in half marathon, silver medallist in 5000 metres and bronze medallist in 10,000 metres and 3000 metres steeplechase. Grøvdal is a four-time Olympian and represented Norway at the 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games.

Grøvdal won the gold medal in the half marathon and the silver medal in the 5000 metres at the 2024 European Championships, and the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2016 European Championships and the 3000 metres steeplechase at the 2018 European Championships. She has earned ten individual medals, including four golds, at the European Cross Country Championships, an unsurpassed record by a female athlete in the meet history.

Grøvdal won the bronze medal in the 2000 m steeplechase at the 2007 World Youth Championships and the gold medal in the 3000 m steeplechase at the 2007 European Junior Championships. At the 2009 European Junior Championships, she won gold medals in the 5000 m and 3000 m steeplechase. She holds four Norwegian records (One mile, indoor 3000 m, 5000 m, 3000 m steeplechase) plus two bests (2000 m, 2000 m steeplechase). She has won 18 individual senior national titles.

Career Karoline Grøvdal gained her first international experience as a 16-year-old in June 2006, winning 3000 m steeplechase race at the European Cup Second League held in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia. In August that year, she placed fifth in the event at the World Under-20 Championships, and in December, she capped her season with the silver medal for the U20 race at the European Cross Country Championships.

In 2009, after she won three gold medals altogether at the European Junior and Cross Country Championships (U20 race), she was voted European Athletics Female Rising Star of the Year. She defended her European cross country title in 2022.

Grøvdal competed at the 2012 London, 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. She qualified for the final in 5000 metres at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

In June 2016 at the home Bislett Games in Oslo, at about two months before the Rio Summer Olympics, Grøvdal broke Grete Waitz' 38-year-old Norwegian mile record with a time of 4:26.23. Participating in a Diamond League event in Brussels in September, she set her personal best at the 5000 metres in a time of 14:43.26. She beat that mark on the Diamond circuit at the home Bislett Games in Oslo the following year, breaking Ingrid Kristiansen’s almost 36-year-old Norwegian record by six seconds with a time of 14:31.07.

In October 2024 she won her ninth victory in the road race , which also earned her a national title.

Statistics Grøvdal warms up at the 2010 Bislett Games meet in home Oslo.

International competitions

Personal bests 1500 metres – 4:03.07 (Stockholm 2021) One mile – 4:26.23 (Oslo 2016) 2000 metres – 5:41.04 (Florø 2018) 3000 metres – 8:27.02 (Oslo 2024) 3000 metres indoor – 8:44.68 (Bærum 2019) 5000 metres – 14:31.07 (Oslo 2022) 10,000 metres – 30:50.84 (Oslo 2021) 2000 metres steeplechase – 6:21.39 (Stavanger 2008) 3000 metres steeplechase – 9:13.35 (Sandnes 2017) Road 5 km – 15:00 (Zürich 2021) 10 km – 30:32 (Hole 2020) Half marathon – 1:08:07 (New York, NY 2022)

National track titles Norwegian Athletics Championships 1500 metres: 2013, 2015 5000 metres: 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2021 3000 m steeplechase: 2006, 2009, 2010, 2017, 2019