Belgian Hanne Verbruggen ‘incredibly happy’ after marathon result

A top 20 and a big smile, the Belgian Hanne Verbruggen had a dream morning this Sunday.

Hanne Verbruggen was “incredibly happy“to have finished the marathon of the Paris Olympic Games in the top 20. A 19th place which rewards all the work done in training by the 31-year-old from Brussels.”I’m glad I took unpaid leave to train, it paid off with this result.”

Hanne Verbruggen remained for a long time a few cables behind the leading group of about twenty marathon runners, achieving regular split times despite the major difficulties of the course. She finished in 2h29:03.

“I am incredibly happy, with my time I should have been in the top 50. I knew with the split times that I had made great progress. My training had gone really well and finding myself in the top 20, I would never have dared to dream it“, commented Hanne Verbruggen.

“The first 16 kilometers went well, but then my hip started to hurt. I tried not to lose my concentration. I’m happy with the way I ran with that. The hills were really tough, but fortunately there were also a lot of supporters. From time to time I felt like walking, like many others I think, because it was really tough. But I told myself that I was here to run and not to walk. In my head I was in pain, but in the end I had a lot of fun because there were also a lot of family and friends there, and I will never thank them enough for shouting so much for me..”

After starting the marathon on time, given the intermediate times, Chloé Herbiet got stuck after the 20th kilometer. Suffering from a stress fracture 8 weeks ago, the Famennoise went through again at km 25, but then gave up.

JO 2024