Following her breakthrough victory at the European Running Championships in Brussels-Leuven, Chloé Herbiet is now eyeing up next month’s European 10,000m Cup, the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo and a national record for the marathon.
The Belgian thrilled the vast home crowds on the streets on Leuven on Saturday (12) winning her first major title in a gutsy display, taking the women's half marathon gold ahead of teammate Juliette Thomas.
“I (will) remember this for a long time,” she said in the aftermath of her career-best performance. “And I hope it’s a good push for the rest of the season and just the start of big season for me.”
Herbiet targeting European 10,000m Cup
Following her road success, her immediate target is back on the track. “I would like to do the European 10,000m Cup in Pacé in France [on 24 May]. After that I would like to try to for the World Championships in Tokyo in the 10,000m by the rankings. The time is very hard to do,” acknowledges the Belgian, who was 10th over 10,000m at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships and has a personal best of 32:15:24.
“Or if it is not possible, maybe marathon?” she says. “But I am not sure. I would like to break the Belgian record and so you need a fast race, maybe Valencia in December for the marathon?”
The current national record of 2:23:05 was set by Marleen Renders in 2002. Renders won both the Berlin and Paris Marathons in an illustrious road career. But with a best of 2:24:56 in Valencia set last year, Herbiet is within striking distance.
Mid-wife and Jiu-Jitsu background
And having only been a full-time athlete since 2023, pausing her career as a mid-wife, the 26-year-old Herbiet has plenty of scope for improvement.
She is a relatively late comer to the sport, having only taken up running aged 18. But with a background in swimming, basketball, football and jiu-jitsu, she has already shown she has plenty of fight in her.
Her half marathon victory at the European Running Championships revealed her courageousness and an innate will to win, leaving in her wake several athletes with bigger international reputations.
“I worked every kilometre on the race for (the) adversaries’ tiredness and I put action, action, action into the race,” she explained afterwards.
“Finally, the last action was in the hills, and I see the adversaries (didn’t) follow me. So, this(was) my chance to go first, so I (took) the lead. It was a good opportunity to take the first place.”
With a European gold medal around her neck Herbiet has sent a clear message of intent for the season ahead.
With 28,000 participants, Brussels-Leuven 2025 established a culture of running in the host cities and Herbiet’s rise to becoming a significant player in international athletics is another legacy of a successful occasion for Belgian running.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics