Belgium recorded a historic 1-2 in the women’s half marathon at the European Running Championships in Leuven on Saturday (12) with Chloé Herbiet and Juliette Thomas delivering the performances of their careers to land gold and silver in front of an exuberant home crowd.
Buoyed by the environment and the occasion, Herbiet and Thomas seized the day by going to the front in the early stages, where they were joined by pre-race favourite Diane van Es of the Netherlands and Germany’s Esther Pfeiffer. The quartet arrived at the 5km mark at 16:40 locked together, a chunky 13 seconds clear of the pack.
Soon after, Pfeiffer had found the going a little too swift and dropped away, leaving the Belgian duo and European 10,000m silver medallist van Es in the medal positions. The trio passed 10km in 33:16, with the German runner 19 seconds back and soon after dropping out entirely.
The leading three ran in close contact through to 15k, passing the mark in 50:26 with Spain’s Meritxell Soler leading the chase, just 10 seconds behind with the chasing back a further 24 seconds back.
Herbiet makes move at 18km
Dutch runner van Es was the athlete with the strongest pedigree, having placed 16th in the Paris Olympic 10,000m final last year and 13th in the 2023 World 10,000m final in Budapest. But, to the surprise – and delight of the home fans – it was the Belgian Herbiet who made the decisive move around 18km.
Tenth in the 10,000m final at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships last summer, she has set two personal bests on the roads already this year in the 10km (31:50) and half marathon (70:04) and her form came to the fore.
Thomas drew inspiration from Herbiet’s boldness and followed in her slipstream with van Es visibly beginning to struggle.
At 20km, the three athletes looked bedded in for the medals. There was a gleeful bound to Herbiet’s stride as she passed 20km in 67:05 with Thomas nine seconds back, both feeding off an excited crowd in the final stages. At that stage van Es was third in 67:34.
But in the final kilometre, she came to a halt and failed to finish. A grateful Sara Nestola of Italy emerged from the pack with a late burst to take bronze in 71:26, just getting the better of Soler by two seconds, the latter perhaps paying for a largely lonely run.
By then, the celebrations were well underway, Herbiet taking gold in 70:43 with Thomas just 14 seconds behind for silver. Having placed 21st in the half marathon at Roma 2024, it was a notable improvement for the Belgian and she was understandably emotional at the finish.
With Victoria Warpy finishing 14th, the Belgians also won the team title to crown a glorious day. Italy won silver courtesy of Nestola, Rebecca Lonedo (7th) and Nicole Svetlana Reina (17th). Spain took bronze thanks to Soler, Maria Jose Perez (10th) and Ikram Rharsalla (19th).
Afterwards, a jubilant Herbiet said: "I can’t believe it. I approached the finish line and was constantly looking behind. It’s a lot of emotions right now. I am really proud of myself because I have put in the work during the whole race.
"I wanted to show today that I have the talent and that I won’t quit. This victory is also a beautiful chapter that closes. I have trained on my own the last months. But I also know that all my past has formed me to be the athlete I am today. I wanted to close it off in style and show that, on my own or accompanied, what I love most is running.
"It was incredible to run in front of a home crowd. If I am European Champion today it’s also thanks to the crowd that gave me wings. The most difficult for me was to arrive here at the Europeans healthy and without injury. And that happened so I could run freely today."
An emotional Thomas said: "When Chloé attacked, I had to drop back. I tried to stay with the Dutch athlete as long as I could. When I accelerated and she didn’t follow, it gave me wings—but I was stressed all the way to the finish. I only felt sure in the final straight. I’m incredibly happy."
Surprise medallist Nestola said: "I’m incredibly happy. It was a total surprise for me to make it onto the podium. I never thought I could finish third. I’m actually a marathon runner, so in the end, my endurance really made the difference.
"I felt better and better as the race went on. In the final stretch, it was all adrenaline. I’m also really happy with the team performance from Italy."
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics