Brinkman goes to Hamburg for his last chance at an Olympic starting ticket for the marathon

NOS Sports•today, 12:00

Nienke Brinkman will seize the last opportunity in Hamburg on Sunday to get a starting ticket for the Paris Olympic marathon. The 30-year-old athlete announced this on Wednesday.

In the German port city, Brinkman must run under the limit of 2.26.50. Since the 2022 Rotterdam Marathon, her personal record has been 2.22.51, with which she set the Dutch record at the time.

After April 30, it is no longer possible to compete for a starting ticket for Paris 2024. Brinkman is also not eligible to qualify via the ranking.

Brinkman struggled with a persistent leg injury for a year. Her coaching team gave the green light today after a final test of forty minutes, partly at competition speed. “The goal in Hamburg will be purely to reach the limit,” explained her manager Valentijn Trouw.

The fact that Brinkman appears at the start in Hamburg is the outcome of a race against time, according to Trouw. Brinkman initially wanted to meet the Olympic target time in Amsterdam last October. A stress point in her calf prevented the athlete from appearing at the start in the capital. The Valencia Marathon was removed from the program at the end of 2023 for the same reason.

Attempts to dip below the limit this year also failed as a result of that injury. Six weeks ago it was decided to accelerate Brinkman’s preparation for the Hamburg marathon. During this attempt to get back to the required level in a month and a half, the athlete suffered an irritation to her tendon, which, however, did not stop her from giving her all on Sunday.

That injury resulted indirectly from the alternative cycling training with which Brinkman has recently kept himself in shape. The athlete is in perfect condition, Trouw assured. “If she learns to steer, she can easily join the peloton in women’s cycling. In terms of fitness, she is ready to run the limit. The problem is that she has run relatively little in training. The question now is how her body will perform in the future. responds to the physical impact that running a marathon has on her tendons.”

Twelve months ago, Brinkman already fell well below the Olympic target time. In Boston, during the fourth marathon of her career, she crossed the finish line in 2.24.58. Although the Athletics Union initially promised her a starting ticket for Paris, Brinkman’s time turned out to be invalid the day after the competition.

According to the regulations of the global umbrella organization World Athletics, a record or qualifying time is only valid if the distance between start and finish is no more than half the competition distance as the crow flies. In addition, the course in Boston descended a total of 140 meters. By law, the total height difference may not exceed one meter per kilometer.

After Boston, Brinkman struggled with a persistent leg injury for a long time. That injury has prevented her from starting in a marathon ever since. On Wednesday, Brinkman successfully completed a final test to determine whether it is responsible to start in Hamburg.

In Paris, Brinkman can become the third Dutch woman to start on the final day of the Olympic athletics tournament at the classic distance of 42,195 meters. It is still unclear how many TeamNL athletes will actually run in Paris.

The Netherlands is in any case represented by Anne Luijten. The two-time national champion ran a time of 2.26.36 during the Amsterdam marathon last year. Earlier this month she extended her Dutch title. In Rotterdam she achieved 2.28.47.

It is not yet clear whether Sifan Hassan will include the marathon in her Olympic program. With 2.13.44, the Ethiopian-born athlete has run the second fastest time ever. Only just before the Games does Hassan decide whether she will start in the marathon or prefer the track program. There she can choose from the 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 meters. Another possibility is that Hassan combines part of the track program with the marathon.