Lionel Spitz

Lionel Spitz (born 12 January 2001) is a Swiss sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres. He won a silver medal at the 2023 European U23 Championships. Shortly after, he set a new personal best of 45.25 at the Swiss Championships and also finished in first place at the event, securing his second national title.

Early life and background
Lionel Spitz was born on 12 January 2001 in Adliswil, a small tow in the canton of Zürich. He began his athletic career at a young age when he joined Adliswil Track Team in 2009. His mother, Lilly Spitz, is the chief coach of the club. He has an older brother, Linus, who runs for the club as well. Lionel remains with Adliswil Track Team, but his trainer is Alex Hautle from LAC TV Unterstrass in Zürich.

He jokingly describes himself as the "Babyface Killer" due to his boyish appearance and how often he gets mistaken for being much younger than he is. Originally, he wrote the name down when he was "too lazy to send [his] biography for the Swiss Athletics site". Ever since, the nickname stuck and has been widely adopted for him.

2017
Spitz made his international debut at the 2017 European Youth Olympic Festival in Győr, Hungary and finished in fourth place in the 400 metres. Then, he took part in the 2017 Swiss U18 Championships and earned the bronze medal after ending the 400 metres in third place.

2018
The following year, he would return to Győr once again to run in the 2018 European Athletics U18 Championships. Although he did not advance to the final rounds in the 400 metres, he still came in sixth place in the medley relay. He earned two additional gold medals for his performance at the 2018 Swiss U18 Championships in the 800 metres and the indoor 400 metres.

2019–2020
Next, he participated in the 2019 Swiss U20 Championships, where he won first place in the indoor and outdoor 400 metres. During the 2020 season, he had yet another successful year. He reclaimed his title at the Swiss U20 Championships and won second place at the Swiss Championships.

2021
He competed in the 2021 Swiss U23 Championships and was undefeated in the 400 metres. Prior to his victory, he came in fourth place at the 2021 Swiss Championships for the indoor and outdoor 400 metres.

He represented Switzerland also at the international level in the 2021 European Team Championships in Cluj-Napoca, Romania as well as the 2021 European U23 Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. He captured sixth place in the 400 metres and fourth place in the relay while at the European Team Championships. Despite his efforts at the European U23 Championships, he did not make it past the semi-finals in the 400 metres, nor did his team finish in the 4 x 400 metres relay. He was supposed to run the anchor leg of the race, however, a commotion caused his teammate to trip before Spitz could be passed the baton. The Swiss had the lead, but then, the Dutch athlete pushed his British competitor who in return tripped the Swiss runner.

2022
He became the Swiss champion for the first time in 2022. Additionally, he finished in second place at the Swiss Indoor Championships. The same year, he attended the 2022 European Championships in Munich, Germany and qualified for the final rounds in the 400 metres. However, the 4 x 400 metres relay group did not finish in the preliminary heat.

2023
Throughout 2023, he was selected for many major events, including the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. He competed in the mixed 4 x 400 metres relay and ran the first leg of the race, however, he and his teammates failed to advance to the final rounds.

Previously, he and the entire mixed 4 x 400 metres relay team—comprising Ricky Petrucciani, Giulia Senn, and Julia Niederberger—broke the Swiss record in the category at the 2023 European Team Championships with a time of 3:14.22. Spitz came in tenth place at the event in the 400 metres.

He improved upon his last results at the 2023 European Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey by going up three spots from his 13th-place ranking to tenth. As for the 4 x 400 metres relay at the 2023 European U23 Championships, they achieved a national U23 record with a time of 3:05.51.

Achievements
Information from his World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.

Personal bests

 * 60 metres indoor — 7.02 (Magglingen 2023)


 * 100 metres — 10.67 (+1.6 m/s, Zofingen 2023)
 * 200 metres — 20.96 (+1.5 m/s, Zofingen 2023)
 * 200 metres indoor — 21.42 (St. Gallen 2023)
 * 400 metres — 45.25 (Bellinzona 2023)
 * 400 metres indoor — 46.14 (Metz 2023)