Lieke Klaver ( ; born 20 August 1998) is a Dutch track and field athlete who competes in sprinting. She specializes in the 200 metres and in the 400 metres. In the 4 × 400 metres relay, she is the 2023 World Champion and the 2024 World Indoor Champion with the Dutch women's team and the 2024 Olympic Champion with the Dutch mixed team.
Klaver represented the Netherlands at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She won silver medals in the 400 metres short track at the 2024 World Indoor Championships and at the 2023 European Indoor Championships and a bronze medal in the 400 metres at the 2024 European Championships. She also took four national titles (outdoor and indoor).
She has won eleven major medals as part of the Dutch 4 × 400 m relay teams, either women's or mixed, including silver for the mixed relays at the 2022 World Championships and the 2024 World Athletics Relays and gold for the women's relays at the 2023 World Championships and 2024 World Indoor Championships.
Early life Lieke Klaver was born on 20 August 1998 in Velsen-Zuid, Netherlands. She has an older brother.Sam de Voogt, "Altijd stralend en zelfbewust, dat is atlete Lieke Klaver volgens haar naasten" (in Dutch), NRC Handelsblad, 14 August 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
At age 8, she became a member of the athletics club Streker Atletiek Vereniging in Grootebroek.
Youth and junior career Klaver gained her first international experience at age 15 at the 2014 World Under-20 Championships held in Eugene, Oregon, U.S., where she competed in the 4 × 100 metres relay.
A year later, she reached the final of the 200 metres at the 2015 European U20 Championships in Eskilstuna, Sweden. The Dutch women's 4 × 100 m relay team was disqualified in the final there, but their time from the heats would have given them second place in the final.
She was still a junior when she claimed her first senior Dutch national title, winning the 200 m at the 2017 Dutch Indoor Athletics Championships in Apeldoorn.
Senior career 2018–2022
Since 2018, Klaver has also competed in the 400 metres, gradually shifting her focus to that distance, but without losing sight of the shorter event. In 2019, she won two medals for the 400 m at the Dutch Championships (indoors and outdoors). It earned her a place on the national 4 × 400 m relay team, which finished seventh at the Doha World Championships in Qatar that year.
In 2020, she claimed her first Dutch 400 m title (indoors), staying ahead of training buddy and rival Femke Bol. During this pandemic season, Klaver won also her first Diamond League race, a victory in the 400 m at the Golden Gala in Rome, Italy with a time of 50.98 s, becoming just the second Dutch woman to break the 51-second barrier.
Klaver represented Netherlands at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, competing in the women's 400 m and both the women's and mixed 4 × 400 m relays. In the mixed 4 × 400 m relay, she competed in both the heats and final, in which the Dutch team finished fourth. In the women's 400 m, she was eliminated in the semi-finals. In the women's 4 × 400 m relay, she competed in the heats and final, helping the Dutch team finish in sixth place.
In February 2022, at the Dutch Indoor Championships, she set a new personal best for the indoor 400 m with a time of 51.20 s. The following month, at the World Indoor Championships, she finished sixth in the women's 400 m. In the women's 4 × 400 m relay, she ran the first leg in the heats and final, helping the Netherlands win the silver medal. During the summer season, Klaver lowered her outdoor pre-2022 best of 50.98 s to 50.18 s in the semi-finals at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, where she finished fourth in the final. She also competed in the mixed and women's 4 × 400 m relays. In the mixed relay, she ran the second leg in the heats and final, helping the Netherlands win the silver medal. In the women's relay, her team was disqualified in the heats.
2023
In February 2023, in the 400 m race at the Dutch Indoor Championships in which Femke Bol set a world record of 49.26 s, Klaver lowered her lifetime indoor best by nearly 0.7 s, down to 50.34 s, putting her joint 13th on the world all-time list. Only two-time Olympic champion, Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas, and Bol had run faster indoors since 2007. The following month, Klaver won her first individual major medal, a silver for the 400 m at the European Indoor Championships held in Istanbul.
Klaver's success carried over into the outdoor season. Throughout the season, she lowered her personal bests over 100 m, 200 m, and 400 m. Her biggest performance of the year came on 16 July at the Silesian Diamond League, where she lowered her 400 m personal best to 49.81 s, breaking the 50-second barrier for the first time in her career.
Later that year, Klaver had a busy schedule at the World Championship in Budapest. Aside from running the individual 400 metres event, she was also part of the Dutch relay squads in the mixed 4 × 400 metres, women's 4 × 400 metres, and women's 4 × 100 metres. On 19 August, during the 4 × 400 mixed relay final, Klaver's teammate Femke Bol fell within metres of the finish line, while vying with Alexis Holmes of the US for first place. Landing face first, Bol lost the relay baton over the finish line, making it impossible for the Netherlands team to legitimately finish the race and resulting in a DNF.
After the disappointment, Klaver continued her championships in the individual 400 metres. After winning her semi-final in 49.87 s, she looked to be a potential medal contender. In the final however, she changed her race plan, starting much faster over the first 200 metres than usual. In the final 100 metres, she fell back to the middle of the field, resulting in a sixth-place finish.
Later that week, Klaver was brought in for the women's 4 × 100 metres final. The Dutch team lost the baton on the last handover, resulting in another DNF.
Klaver ended her championships in the women's 4 × 400 metres final. During her second leg, she brought the Dutch team back from the middle of the pack to the top three, along with Great Britain and Jamaica. On the fourth leg, Klaver's teammate Bol anchored the Dutch team to the world title, passing the Brits and Jamaicans in the last metres.Mitch Phillips, "Amazing Bol finish takes Dutch to 4x400m gold", Reuters, 27 August 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2023. Individually, Klaver ran a split time of 48.78 seconds, which was the second fastest split of the race after Bol's 48.75 seconds."Results 4 x 400 Metres Relay Women - Final (revised)", World Athletics, 27 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023."Race analysis 4 x 400 Metres Relay Women - Final", World Athletics, 14 September 2023. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
On 17 September, Klaver was third in the 2023 Diamond League final of the 400 metres with a time of 50.47 seconds, after champion Marileidy Paulino and Natalia Kaczmarek."Bol eindigt seizoen met Diamond League-winst, wereldrecord Tsegay en Duplantis", NOS, 17 September 2023. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
2024
Klaver won the 400 m short track races at the 2024 Czech Indoor Gala in Ostrava, Czech Republic, in 50.54 s and at the 2024 Copernicus Cup in Torún, Poland, in 50.57 s, and she finished second at the 2024 Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Liévin, France in 50.50 s. This made her the overall winner in the 400 m of the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Tour.
Klaver won a silver medal at the 2024 Dutch Indoor Championships in 50.10 s, where Femke Bol won gold.
Klaver won a silver medal in the 400 metres short track at the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, finishing in 50.16 s, almost a second after Femke Bol."Revised – Results – 400 Metres Women - Final", World Athletics, 2 March 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2024. She continued to win a gold medal in the 4 × 400 metres short track relay with the Dutch women's team in a new Dutch record time of 3:25.07 min.
At the 2024 Summer Olympics, she won a gold medal in the mixed 4 × 400 m relay and a silver medal in the women's 4 × 400 m relay."Athletics: USA come close to world record to win women's 4x400m relay gold", Olympics.com, 10 August 2024. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
2025 At the Czech Indoor Gala in Ostrava, Klaver won the 400 m short track in 50.92 s. In March, Klaver won her first individual major gold medal, in the 400 m at the European Indoor Championships held in Apeldoorn.
2026 At the 2026 European Championships in Birmingham, England, Klaver won the bronze medal in the 400 metres. She was also a member of the Netherlands teams which won gold in the women's 4 × 400 metres relay and bronze in the mixed 4 × 400 metres relay.
Personal bests Information from her World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.
Individual events +Personal best times for individual eventsEventLocationDateNotes60 metres7.41 Apeldoorn, Netherlands1 February 2020100 metres11.33Breda, Netherlands28 July 2023(Wind: −0.2 m/s)Willemstad, Curaçao28 April 2024(Wind: −0.1 m/s)150 metres16.89Ostrava, Czech Republic8 September 2020(Wind: +0.6 m/s)200 metres22.46Chorzów, Poland25 June 2023(Wind: +1.2 m/s)200 metres short track22.81 Metz, France3 February 2024 300 metres 36.49 Brussels, Belgium 25 May 2025400 metres49.58London, United Kingdom20 July 2024 Monaco 10 July 2026 400 metres short track50.10 Apeldoorn, Netherlands18 February 2024
Season's bests +Season's best times for individual events Year 60 m 100 m 200 m 200 m 400 m 400 m 2012 8.11 2013 7.97 12.65 2014 7.84 12.08 24.40 2015 11.89 24.03 2016 7.59 11.98 24.00 24.59 2017 7.48 11.74 23.84 23.82 2018 7.67 11.49 23.62 54.41 2019 11.46 23.35 53.18 53.47 2020 7.41 11.54 22.66 50.98 52.45 2021 11.46 22.83 23.10 50.98 51.21 2022 11.46 22.71 23.27 50.18 51.20 2023 11.33 22.46 22.97 49.81 50.34 2024 11.33 22.72 22.81 49.58 50.10 2025 22.59 23.10 50.11 50.38 2026 22.99 49.58 51.00 Key:
Team events + Personal best times for team events Type Event Venue Date Record Notes Women 4 × 100 m relay 42.02 Madrid, Spain 28 June 2025 Teamed with Nadine Visser, Minke Bisschops, and Marije van Hunenstijn. Klaver ran the second leg. 4 × 400 m relay 3:19.50 Paris, France 10 August 2024 "Athletics – Women's 4 x 400m Relay Final Results", Olympics.com, 10 August 2024. Retrieved 10 August 2024. Teamed with Cathelijn Peeters, Lisanne de Witte and Femke Bol. Klaver's split time for the first leg was 50.25 s. 4 × 400 m relay short track 3:24.34 Apeldoorn, Netherlands 9 March 2025 Teamed with Nina Franke, Cathelijn Peeters, and Femke Bol. Klaver ran the first leg. Mixed 4 × 400 m relay 3:07.43 Paris, France 3 August 2024 "Final 4x400 Metres Relay Mixed", World Athletics, 3 August 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2024.Second-fastest national team of all time."All time Top lists – Senior – 4x400 Metres Relay Mixed", World Athletics. Retrieved 3 August 2024. Teamed with Eugene Omalla, Isaya Klein Ikkink and Femke Bol. Klaver's split time for the second leg was 49.26 s."Athletics – 4 x 400m Relay Mixed – Final – Results – Revised", Olympics.com, 5 August 2024. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
Competition results Information from her World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.
World Athletics Rankings Klaver has had rankings for three events and an overall ranking in the World Athletics Rankings.