User:Habst/Manon Depuydt

Manon Depuydt (born 2 April 1997) is a Belgian sprinter. She is a three-time national champion outdoors and two-time indoor champion.

Biography
Depuydt grew up in Klemskerke, a village in De Haan, Belgium within the arrondissement of Ostend. Her first major competition was at the 2013 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival, where she finished 5th in the 200 m. Depuydt was exposed to high-level competition from a young age, having competed in the youth sections of the 2013 Memorial Van Damme and 2014 BAUHAUS-galan Diamond League meetings.

Depuydt achieved her first senior national podium finish at the 2016 Belgian Athletics Championships, placing 3rd in the 200 m. The following year, she won the Belgian Indoor Athletics Championships 60 m. Depuydt did particularly well in her debut at the 2017 European Team Championships First League, placing third in the 4 × 100 m.

In 2018, Depuydt competed for the first time at the European Championships. In the women's 200 m, she advanced past the first round but was eliminated in the semifinals.

Depuydt improved markedly in 2019 and 2020, setting personal bests at every sprint distance from 60 m to 400 m. At the 2019 European U23 Championships, she advanced past the heats and semifinals of the 200 m to make her first international final, ultimately finishing 7th. She won her first international championship title at the 2019 European Athletics Team Championships, where she helped the Belgian team to a First League victory in the 4 × 100 m. At the 2019 World Athletics Championships, Depuydt was selected as part of the Belgian 4 × 400 m squad, but the Belgian team coach Carole Bam decided not to run her in the prelims or finals, saying that it was difficult to choose between her and Imke Vervaet.