Lieke Klaver

Lieke Klaver ( ; born 20 August 1998) is a Dutch track and field athlete who competes in sprinting. She specializes in the 200 metres 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.

Klaver represented the Netherlands at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She won silver medals in the 400 metres short track at the 2024 World Indoor Championships and at the 2023 European Indoor Championships and a bronze medal in the 400 metres at the 2024 European Championships. She also took four national titles (outdoor and indoor).

She has won eleven major medals as part of the Dutch 4 × 400 m relay teams, either women's or mixed, including silver for the mixed relays at the 2022 World Championships and the 2024 World Athletics Relays and gold for the women's relays at the 2023 World Championships and 2024 World Indoor Championships.

Early life Lieke Klaver was born on 20 August 1998 in Velsen-Zuid, Netherlands. She has an older brother.

At age 8, she became a member of the athletics club Streker Atletiek Vereniging in Grootebroek. In 2019, she won two medals for the 400 m at the Dutch Championships (indoors and outdoors).

In 2020, she claimed her first Dutch 400 m title (indoors), staying ahead of training buddy and rival Femke Bol. In the mixed 4 × 400 m relay, she competed in both the heats and final, in which the Dutch team finished fourth. In the women's 400 m, she was eliminated in the semi-finals. In the women's 4 × 400 m relay, she competed in the heats and final, helping the Dutch team finish in sixth place.

Klaver (right) in the 400 m final at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, where she finished in 6th place.

In February 2022, at the Dutch Indoor Championships, she set a new personal best for the indoor 400 m with a time of 51.20 s. The following month, at the World Indoor Championships, she finished sixth in the women's 400 m. In the women's 4 × 400 m relay, she ran the first leg in the heats and final, helping the Netherlands win the silver medal. During the summer season, Klaver lowered her outdoor pre-2022 best of 50.98 s to 50.18 s in the semi-finals at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, where she finished fourth in the final. The following month, Klaver won her first individual major medal, a silver for the 400 m at the European Indoor Championships held in Istanbul.

Klaver (center) with Natalia Kaczmarek and Rhasidat Adeleke in the 400 m final at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, where she finished in 6th place.

After the disappointment, Klaver continued her championships in the individual 400 metres. After winning her semi-final in 49.87 s, she looked to be a potential medal contender. In the final however, she changed her race plan, starting much faster over the first 200 metres than usual. In the final 100 metres, she fell back to the middle of the field, resulting in a sixth-place finish.

Later that week, Klaver was brought in for the women's 4 × 100 metres final. The Dutch team lost the baton on the last handover, resulting in another DNF.

Klaver ended her championships in the women's 4 × 400 metres final. During her second leg, she brought the Dutch team back from the middle of the pack to the top three, along with Great Britain and Jamaica. On the fourth leg, Klaver's teammate Bol anchored the Dutch team to the world title, passing the Brits and Jamaicans in the last metres. Individually, Klaver ran a split time of 48.78 seconds, which was the second fastest split of the race after Bol's 48.75 seconds.

On 17 September, Klaver was third in the 2023 Diamond League final of the 400 metres with a time of 50.47 seconds, after champion Marileidy Paulino and Natalia Kaczmarek.

2024

Klaver won the 400 m short track races at the 2024 Czech Indoor Gala in Ostrava, Czech Republic, in 50.54 s and at the 2024 Copernicus Cup in Torún, Poland, in 50.57 s, and she finished second at the 2024 Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Liévin, France in 50.50 s. This made her the overall winner in the 400 m of the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Tour.

Klaver won a silver medal at the 2024 Dutch Indoor Championships in 50.10 s, where Femke Bol won gold.

Klaver won a silver medal in the 400 metres short track at the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, finishing in 50.16 s, almost a second after Femke Bol. She continued to win a gold medal in the 4 × 400 metres short track relay with the Dutch women's team in a new Dutch record time of 3:25.07 min.

At the 2024 Summer Olympics, she won a gold medal in the mixed 4 × 400 m relay and a silver medal in the women's 4 × 400 m relay.

2025 At the Czech Indoor Gala in Ostrava, Klaver won the 400 m short track in 50.92 s.

2026 At the 2026 European Championships in Birmingham, England, Klaver won the bronze medal in the 400 metres. She was also a member of the Netherlands teams which won gold in the women's 4 × 400 metres relay and bronze in the mixed 4 × 400 metres relay.

Personal bests Information from her World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted. Teamed with Cathelijn Peeters, Lisanne de Witte and Femke Bol. Klaver's split time for the first leg was 50.25 s. Second-fastest national team of all time. Teamed with Eugene Omalla, Isaya Klein Ikkink and Femke Bol.

Competition results Information from her World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.

Key:

International championships

Circuit wins and titles Diamond League 400 metres wins, times (in seconds) specified in parentheses 2020 (1): Rome Golden Gala (50.98 )

World Athletics Continental Tour 400 metres wins, times (in seconds) specified in parentheses 2022 (1): Bern CITIUS Meeting (51.21) 2023 (1): La Chaux-de-Fonds Resisprint International (50.40)

World Athletics Indoor Tour 400 metres short track overall winner (2): 2024 (27 points), 2026 400 metres short track wins, times (in seconds) specified in parentheses 2023 (2): Ostrava Czech Indoor Gala (51.00 ), Torún Copernicus Cup (51.14 ) 2024 (2): Ostrava (50.54 ), Torún (50.57 ) 2025 (3): Ostrava (50.92 ), Metz Meeting Moselle Athlélor (51.70 ), Liévin Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais (50.76 ) 2026 (2): Ostrava (51.00 ), Madrid Villa de Madrid Indoor Meeting (51.26 )

National championships

Recognition 2022: Dutch Sports Team of the Year of the NOC*NSF: women's 4 × 400 metres relay team (shared with Femke Bol, Andrea Bouma, Eveline Saalberg, Laura de Witte, and Lisanne de Witte) 2023: Dutch Sports Team of the Year of the NOC*NSF: women's 4 × 400 metres relay team (shared with Femke Bol, Cathelijn Peeters, Eveline Saalberg, and Lisanne de Witte)