Willem Renders
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| Born | 7 February 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Event | Long-distance running | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal best(s) | 1500m: 3:50.77 (Brussels, 2025) 3000m: 7:47.02 (Leuven, 2025) 5000m: 13:31.12 NU20R (Oslo, 2025) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Willem Renders (born 7 February 2007) is a Belgian long-distance and cross country runner. He was the European U20 Champion over 5000 metres in 2025. He won individual and team gold in the U20 race at the 2025 European Cross Country Championships and represented Belgium at the 2026 World Athletics Cross Country Championships.[1]
Career
From West Flanders, Renders started running in De Haan and later trained as a member of AV Jabbeke before joining Excelsior in Brussels.[2]
Renders set a 5000 metres personal best of 13:55.09 in May 2025 at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels.[3] He won the gold medal over 5000 metres at the 2025 European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland, finishing ahead of Sweden's Karl Ottfalk in August 2025.[4] Later that month, he set a new national under-20 record over that distance, running 13:31.12 in Oslo, Norway, breaking the previous best by Jean-Pierre Ndayisengha which had stood since 1981.[5]
Renders suffered a broken elbow from a fall in the second half of 2025.[6] Despite that, he recovered to win the men's under-20 race at the Belgian Cross Country Championships in November 2025.[7] Renders subsequently won the gold medal for Belgium in the men's under-20 race at the 2025 European Cross Country Championships in Portugal, also leading Belgium to the team gold. He become the first Belgian winner since Jeroen D'hoedt in 2009.[8]
Competing in the men's U20 race at the 2026 World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, Florida, he was the leading European finisher in 11th place, the highest finish by a European in the race since 1994.[9]
Personal life
Renders is a bioengineering student at the University of Ghent. He is a training partner of fellow Belgian under-20 record holder Elliot Vermeulen.[10]
References
- ^ "Willem Renders". World Athletics. Retrieved 12 Dec 2025.
- ^ "Vote Willem Renders as Krak van De Haan". kw.be. 12 Dec 2024. Retrieved 11 Dec 2025.
- ^ "Willem Renders gives Belgium its first medal in Tampere, winning gold in the 5,000 m". The Brussels Times. 8 August 2025. Retrieved 11 Dec 2025.
- ^ "Renders fends off pack to win 5000m gold for Belgium". European Athletics. 8 August 2025. Retrieved 11 December 2025.
- ^ "European champion Willem Renders demolishes 44-year-old BR U20 in Oslo on 5,000 meters". kw.be. 23 August 2025. Retrieved 11 December 2025.
- ^ "Willem Renders na een ellenboogbreuk naar het BK veldlopen: "Veel zal afhangen van mijn vorm die dag"". kw.be. 23 November 2025. Retrieved 11 December 2025.
- ^ Mills, Steven (30 Nov 2025). "Querinjean upsets Kimeli for victory at the Belgian Cross Country Championships". European Athletics. Retrieved 11 Dec 2025.
- ^ Mills, Steven (14 Dec 2025). "Double gold for Belgium! Renders kicks to men's U20 gold in Lagoa 2025". European Athletics. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
- ^ "Allez les bleus! France wins historic mixed relay silver in Tallahassee". European Athletics. 10 January 2026. Retrieved 10 January 2026.
- ^ Broadbent, Chris (29 Dec 2025). ""We look differently at championships." The new mindset breeding Belgian running success". European Athletics. Retrieved 9 Feb 2026.