Paulien Couckuyt

Paulien Couckuyt (born 19 May 1997) is a Belgian track and field athlete who specializes in middle-distance running and the 400 metres hurdles.

Career 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. 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. In October, she represented Belgium at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, competing in the women's 400 metres hurdles and women's 4 × 400 metres relay.

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 Belgian team finished 7th in the final. Later in the month, 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. At the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, she finished 3rd in her heat, setting a new personal best and national record of 54.90s, and proceeded to the semi-final where she finished 3rd and was eliminated, setting again a personal best and new national record of 54.47s. She also ran in the heats and final of the women's 4 × 400 metres relay with the Belgian team finishing 7th in the final.

In July 2022, she ran in the final of the women's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon finishing 6th. She also participated in the women's 400 metres hurdles, reaching the semi-final. 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. In November 2022, at a 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.

Having missed most of the 2023 season through injury, she spent the 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 30 June, 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. At the Olympics, she reached the semi-final stage but did not qualify for the finals.