Patrizia van der Weken is Luxembourg’s hope for a European medal in the sprint

Patrizia van der Weken is Luxembourg runner and one of the biggest talents of the European athletics. She is Summer World University Games 100m champion in 2021 Chengdu and one of the biggest hope of a honor in sprints.

“I didn’t expect to progress so much in such a short period of time”, admits Patrizia van der Weken in an interview that could have been conducted in Luxembourgish, English, German or French.

The 25-year-old sprinter insists that speaking four languages, which is normal for a Luxembourger, but there is no doubting the remarkable nature of her record-breaking performances over the past 12 months.

She became the first woman from her country to reach a track final at the European Athletics Championships in Rome last June, where she finished fourth in the 100m, missing just 0.01 sec behind the bronze medal.

“It was bittersweet, but I ran 11.00 in the semi-finals, which was incredible”, said Patrizia van der Weken. “I can’t be too disappointed. To be among the fastest sprinters in Europe is already a huge achievement. I’m very proud of that”, added she.

Buoyed by the near-settlement, she powered her way to a stunning 100m victory at the Diamond League meeting in Paris in July, beating European 200m champion Mujinga Kambundji of Switzerland, with Ewa Swoboda (Poland) and Zaynab Dosso (Italy) ahead of her on the podium in Rome.

Patrizia van der Weken began 2025 by improving her own national records in the 60m and 200m (7.07 sec and 23.17 sec) at the Luxembourg meeting last Sunday.

“We’re quite far from where we want to be”, said last year’s world indoor 60m finalist. “It’s nice to be the person who can lead the way and show others that it’s possible to do really good things even though you come from a small country. You don’t have to think, ‘Oh no, I’m from Luxembourg, I can’t do this’. We have the facilities”, added she.

Patrizia van der Weken’s national pride was confirmed with the honor of being the flag bearer at the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

That followed another career high as she narrowly missed the 100m final, finishing fourth in a tough semi-final that included future gold medalist Julien Alfred and world champion Sha’Carri Richardson.

“It was a real goosebumps moment standing there with my little flag”, said the sprinter, one of 13 Luxembourg Olympic athletes in Paris, including four from track and field. “We don’t have a huge number of athletes who are involved in elite sports in general”, added she.

But Patrizia van der Weken, the Luxembourg’s Sportswoman of the Year, believes that being a star athlete from a nation of just 672,000 people has its advantages.

The talented sprinter hopes to win her country’s first medal at a major event at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn from March 6 to 9.