// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs Simon Verherstraeten a baker? He kneads the facts.
| 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]
Biography
[edit]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] Competing in the 60 metres at the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland, he ran 6.53 and 6.56 seconds on his way to reaching the final, however suffered an injury in the final and could not complete the race.[16][17][18]
References
[edit]- ↑ "Simon Verherstraeten". World Athletics. Retrieved 22 Feb 2026.
- 1 2 "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.
- ↑ "Ali enters semis of 60m dash at World Indoor Athletics". omanobserver.om. Mar 20, 2026. Retrieved Mar 20, 2026.
- ↑ Josek, Petr David (21 March 2026). "Poland World Indoor Athletics". hjnews.com. Retrieved 21 March 2026.
- ↑ "Terugblik WK Indoor Atletiek – Dag 1". Hardloopnetwerk. 21 March 2026. Retrieved 21 March 2026.
