Simon Verherstraeten
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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| Born | 14 January 1999 | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||
Event | Sprint | ||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||
| Personal bests | 60m: 6.52 (2026) NR 100m: 10.06 (2024) 200m: 20.13 (2024) NR | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Simon Verherstraeten (born 14 January 1999) is a Belgian sprinter. A multiple-time national champion, and the Belgian national record holder over 200 metres from 2024, in February 2026, he set a Belgian national record in the 60 metres.[1]
Career
From Kessel, Belgium,[2] Verherstraeten was a member of the Belgian 4 x 100 metres sprint relay team which won the bronze medal in the final at the 2019 European Athletics U23 Championships in Gävle, Sweden.[3]
Verherstraeten was a member of the Belgian 4 x 100 metres sprint relay team which placed sixth in the final at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich, Germany. In the semi-final, alongside Robin Vanderbemden, Ward Merckx, and Kobe Vleminckx they set a Belgian national record of 38.73 seconds, 32 hundredths of a second faster than the previous Belgian record set in 2003.[4][5]
Verherstraeten competed for Belgium at the 2024 World Athletics Relays in Nassau, The Bahamas, where in a time with Merckx, Antoine Snyders and Vleminckx, they ran a time of 38:68, five hundredths faster than the previous national record they had achieved with a similar lineup at the 2022 European Championships.[6] He was a member of the Belgian 4 x 100 metres sprint relay team which placed fourth in the final at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome, Italy, missing out on a medal in the final by just over one hundredths of a second.[7][8] In July 2024 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, he set a Belgian national record for the 200 metres of 20.13 seconds, breaking the record of Patrick Stevens who had held the record since 1996.[9]
In May 2025, he competed at the 2025 World Athletics Relays in China, helping the Belgian 4 x 100 metres team qualify for the upcoming World Championships.[10][2] In September 2025, he competed in the men's 4 x 100 metres at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.[11][12][13]
In February 2026, he set a new Belgian national record in the 60 metres of 6.54 seconds, whilst competing in Apeldoorn, breaking the previous Belgian record set by Ronald Desruelles in 1985.[14] He then won the Belgian Indoor Championships, running 6.52 seconds in the final.[15]
References
- ^ "Simon Verherstraeten". World Athletics. Retrieved 22 Feb 2026.
- ^ a b "Kobe Vleminckx and Simon Verherstraeten reflect on and look ahead to an excellent 2025 for the relay team". rtv.be. May 18, 2025. Retrieved 22 Feb 2026.
- ^ "European U23 Championships". World Athletics. 14 July 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2025.
- ^ "Belgian Falcons advance to 4x100m final with Belgian record". Belganewsagency. 19 August 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2025.
- ^ "Kobe Vleminckx, Simon Verherstraeten en Elise Mehuys naar finale 4x100 op EK atletiek". rtv.be. 19 August 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2025.
- ^ "FALCONS FLASH TO BR 4X100M AND GAIN CONFIDENCE FOR WORLD RELAYS". Atletiek.be. 29 April 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2025.
- ^ "Belgian Falcons bid farewell to established team and dive optimistically into new Olympiad: "European Championship medal and final in LA"". atni.be. 29 November 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2025.
- ^ "European Championships". World Athletics. 12 June 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2025.
- ^ "SIMON VERHERSTRAETEN IMPROVES BR 200M TO 20"13". Atletiek.be. 14 July 2024. Retrieved 22 Feb 2026.
- ^ "World Relays". World Athletics. 10 May 2025. Retrieved 20 Feb 2026.
- ^ "World Athletics Championships, Tokyo 2025". World Athletics. 18 Sep 2025. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
- ^ "Belgian Athletics maakt volledige selectie WK Tokio bekend: Anne Zagré mee met Rockets". atni.be. 29 August 2025. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
- ^ Cuvelier, Maixent (20 Sep 2025). "WK Tokio – Tornados en Cheetahs naar 4x400m-finales, Falcons en Rockets grijpen naast kwalificatie". Retrieved 22 Feb 2026.
- ^ "World Indoor Athletics Championships - Simon Verherstraeten breaks the 41-year-old Belgian 60m record and will go to Torun". Starsporttv.be. February 21, 2026. Retrieved 22 Feb 2026.
- ^ "Belgian Indoor Championships". World Athletics. 1 March 2026. Retrieved 3 March 2026.