Cathelijn Peeters

Cathelijn Peeters (born 6 November 1996) is a Dutch track and field athlete who competes in hurdling and sprinting and previously competed in the combined events and hammer throw. Peeters specializes in the 400 metres hurdles 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.

Individually, Peeters won bronze medals at the 2023 European Games and the 2024 European Championships and five national titles at the Dutch Championships in 2020–2024. As part of the Dutch women's 4 × 400 metres relay team, she won gold medals at the 2023 European Indoor Championships, 2023 World Championships, 2024 World Indoor Championships, and 2024 European Championships and she shares the Dutch records outdoor and indoor.

Peeters' highest World Athletics Rankings were No. 11 in the 400 metres hurdles in 2024, No. 77 in the 400 metres in 2024, and No. 257 of women overall in 2024. With the Dutch women's 4 × 400 metres relay team, she won the Dutch Sports Team of the Year award in 2023.

Early life
Cathelijn Peeters was born on 6 November 1996 in Dongen, Netherlands, where she also grew up. Her cousin Silke Peeters is also a national level hurdler.

2015–2023


Peeters competed in the combined events until 2020 and in the hammer throw until 2021. After 2021, she specialized only in hurdling and sprinting.

Peeters reached the national podium for the first time at the 2019 Dutch Championships, taking third place in the hurdles. She followed this with wins at the national championships in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

She set a personal best of 53.34 seconds for the 400 metres, gaining selection for the Dutch relay team at the 2022 World Athletics Championships. During the heats of the women's 4 × 400 m relay Peeters dropped the baton, causing the team to be eliminated.

She was a gold medallist in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships, helping break the Dutch record and championship record with a time of 3:25.66 minutes alongside Femke Bol, Lieke Klaver and Eveline Saalberg. On 27 August 2023, the Dutch team continued the success with a gold medal in the women's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Peeters won the Dutch Sports Team of the Year award with the Dutch women's 4 × 400 metres relay team in 2023.

2024


On 3 February, she won the 400 m short track in 52.51 s at the IFAM Indoor Meeting in Ghent, Belgium. On 17 February, she improved her personal best in the 400 m short track to 52.01 s in the heats of the 2024 Dutch Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. On 3 March, she ran the second leg of the 4 × 400 m relay short track, where she won a gold medal with Lieke Klaver, Lisanne de Witte, and Femke Bol of the Dutch women's relay team at the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, United Kingdom.

On 28 April, she improved her personal best in the 400 m to 51.08 s at the SprintFest in Willemstad, Curaçao. On 4–5 May, she competed in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2024 World Athletics Relays in Nassau, Bahamas. With the Dutch women's team, she qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics in the second qualification round in 3:27.45 min. On 26 May, she won the 400 m hurdles in a new personal best time of 54.32 s at the IFAM Outdoor Meeting in Brussels, Belgium. On 28 May, she won the 400 m hurdles in 54.31 s, further improving her personal best at the Golden Spike Ostrava in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

On 10–12 June, Peeters competed at the 2024 European Championships in Rome, Italy. In the 400 m hurdles, she won a bronze medal finishing in 54.37 s after Femke Bol and Louise Maraval. In the women's 4 × 400 m relay, she won a gold medal with Klaver, De Witte, and Bol in 3:22.39 min, where she ran the second leg in a split time of 50.96 s.

Personal bests
Information from her World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.

Season's bests
Key:

Competition results
Information from her World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.

World Athletics Rankings
Highest overall and event World Athletics Rankings per year.

Key:

Circuit wins

 * World Athletics Continental Tour
 * 400 metres hurdles wins, times (in seconds) specified in parentheses:
 * 2024 (2): Brussels International Flanders Athletics Meeting Outdoor (54.32), Ostrava Golden Spike (54.31)


 * World Athletics Indoor Tour
 * 400 metres short track wins, times (in seconds) specified in parentheses:
 * 2024 (1): Ghent International Flanders Athletics Meeting Indoor (52.59 )