Nienke Brinkman

Nienke Brinkman (; born 28 October 1993) is a Dutch long-distance runner, both on the road as well as on trails. She won the bronze medal in the marathon at the 2022 European Athletics Championships, which was her first international medal, and has a personal best of 2:22:51 which she ran at the Rotterdam Marathon. in Jakarta, Indonesia, where her Dutch parents were briefly living. She was a keen field hockey player and played in the Dutch National League 2 as a midfielder. After moving to Zürich to complete a PhD in geophysics, Brinkman discovered that field hockey was only a fringe sport in Switzerland, and began to run as a hobby.

Career In 2019, Brinkman entered the Zermatt Marathon, where she placed sixth. To relieve stress, she intensified her running training during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. She planned to participate at the Amsterdam Marathon in October, but pandemic restrictions meant that it was cancelled. Instead of this, Brinkman successfully completed 2 marathons within the space of a month on a lap of Lake Zurich, running 2:43 and 2:39. At the end of the year, Brinkman successfully reached the start of her first road marathon; in December, she ran 2:26:34 for 13th at the Valencia Marathon. At the time, this was the third-fastest time ever achieved by a Dutchwoman. At the Rotterdam Marathon in April, she ran a nearly-4-minute personal best of 2:22:51 for second. This result also meant that in August, she travelled with the fastest time of the field to the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich, where she ended up finishing third in the race after experiencing stomach problems. As well as these starts in road races, Brinkman also continued to line up in trail races. Before the European Championships, she had already won at Zegama-Aizkorri in the Basque Country, and at Pikes Peak Ascent and Flagstaff Sky Peaks in the USA. She finished off her season by winning the Madeira Ocean and Trail Five-Day Stage Race, which secured herself the overall Golden Trail Series win.