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How Nienke Brinkman has become “Alien of the Year” since his feat in Sierre-Zinal

The legendary trail race of Sierre-Zinal (Switzerland) has been flown over for many years by references Kilian Jornet and Maude Mathys, record holders for the 31 km event, which displays a terrible 2,200 m of elevation gain. But on August 7, the mountain world discovered Nienke Brinkman, a 27-year-old Dutch stranger with a chubby face, who arrived less than three minutes after Maude Mathys. “When she passed me uphill with her impressive dynamic stride, I said to myself that I shouldn’t try to follow this little cannonball, or else I was going to explode”, confides Anaïs Sabrié, champion of France in short trail and current third of
Golden Trail World Series, a real world cup for the discipline.

Her teammate in Team Matryx Elise Poncet confirms the sensation that Nienke Brinkman caused on the circuit: “Considering its stratospheric weather [2h48], his arrival made a big boom in the trail. There is the world of humans and there is Nienke, it is a phenomenon. Such a performance for a first trail race is unheard of. And she didn’t do that on a sausage race but on one of the most beautiful rounds of the Golden Trail World Series… Usually, the new faces of the trail come with a lot of experience in running, in athletics or in skiing. . There, we tried to search the Internet with our coach but we do not know where it comes from, it’s confusing. “

A marathon actually prepared in two weeks

So we inform Elise Poncet : the new terror of the circuit was with the club of “Alecto” Leiderdorp a player of the Dutch 2nd division… in field hockey. “I have played this sport for most of my life, which is very popular in the Netherlands,” says Nienke Brinkman. When I moved to Zürich (Switzerland) in 2018, I preferred to stop seeing that the level in field hockey was not the same here. “Instead, she begins to juggle between gym, bike and therefore road racing,” but just twenty kilometers a week, nothing very serious.

Nienke Brinkman preferred field hockey to trail running until the age of 24 and his arrival in Zürich (Switzerland). – Alecto Hockey Club

“When I think about it, it’s true that I ran a lot in field hockey as a midfielder,” continues the young woman. I never needed to be replaced before the end of a match. But for all that, no coach had unfortunately advised me to test myself in running. The boost comes from Nienke’s colleagues, who suggested that he take part with them in the formidable Zermatt mountain marathon (42 km, 1,944 m of elevation gain) in July 2019.

Only five men beat her to Zermatt

“I had never run more than 15 km so it scared me a bit given the little training I had, especially since they only warned me two weeks before the event, remembers the event. Dutch. Then the result amused my friends a lot. “Because Nienke Brinkman closed the case in 4:01, in an incredible sixth place for a newbie to running. Serious things start in earnest in 2020 with the arrival of the Covid-19. “I suddenly had a lot of free time in this context and I took the opportunity to turn 100 km per week on average, she says. I really took a liking to racing so I gave everything to improve myself, I started to have a coach. “

Nienke Brinkman has started to cover a hundred kilometers each week from the start of confinement last year.
Nienke Brinkman has started to cover a hundred kilometers each week from the start of confinement last year. – N. Brinkman

Except that due to the cessation of almost all competitions, it is content with a progression in the shadows, before exploding this year. And what better place than the Zermatt Marathon to prove to yourself that it has completely changed dimensions? Nienke Brinkman slammed the women’s record for the event this summer in 3:19 (42 minutes less than in 2019) and therefore won his first race, with a sixth place in the scratch classification (men and women combined).

A Sierre-Zinal attacked “like a total stranger”

While she was planning to test herself on the road with the Amsterdam Marathon in October, her season did change in Zermatt. An organizer from Sierre-Zinal present, and obviously impressed by her performance, invited her to the 2021 edition. The passionate hiker only had one month to prepare for one of the most demanding races in the world. on the short format. And bim, therefore rebelote with this time a second place as close as possible to the essential Maude Mathys. The rookie trail runner sums up her dream day on “the race of the five 4.000”.

I started Sierre-Zinal like a total stranger, hidden in the back. I found it so cool to be in the midst of so many top athletes. At the end, Maude congratulated me before asking me “But who are you, exactly?”. “

Anaïs Sabrié tells the logical continuation: “The sponsors rushed on her after the finish line”. Manager of Team Salomon international, Grégory Vollet convinced her to join the trail running leader. “When you discover someone who runs Sierre-Zinal with road shoes, who barely knows who Kilian Jornet is, and who competes at this point with Maude Mathys, you say to yourself that you are facing the alien of the year, sums it up. We don’t know where it will end. “

One last battle this season with Maude Mathys in the Canaries

Certainly not at this one-day brilliant coup in Sierre-Zinal. On the two following races of the Golden Trail World Series, the new athlete Salomon won in September Chiemgau in Germany (43 km and 2,757 m of D +, in 4:16) then the Skyrhune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques (21 km and 1,700 m of D + , in 2:04). On this last stage of the season, she even beat the names of the men’s circuit such as Nicolas Martin and Thibaut Baronian.

These two successes are synonymous with unexpected qualification for the final of the competition, on October 16 in El Hierro (Canary Islands), where she is neck and neck with Maude Mathys for the final victory. And this two months after his real entry into the running in the world of trail. Since Sierre-Zinal, Nienke Brinkman has managed to postpone the end of his doctorate in geophysics, in order to intensify his mountain training.

In Chiemgau, Nienke Brinkman won last month with 11 minutes ahead of French Anaïs Sabrié.
In Chiemgau, Nienke Brinkman won last month with 11 minutes ahead of French Anaïs Sabrié. – @ jsaragossa / Solomon

“I’m really slow on the technical descents”

“My life has changed since that day,” says the person concerned. It’s like it’s not all happening to me. I feel a little overwhelmed by the events but of course I am delighted. I hadn’t imagined for a moment that I could win the Golden Trail World Series when I arrived in Sierre-Zinal so I have nothing to lose. “

The women’s trail circuit may already be shaking for the next few years because the Dutchwoman has obvious room for improvement given her difficulties in downhill. “I try to run as much as possible but I don’t feel at all comfortable on technical descents,” she assumes. I am really slow in these passages. »Seeing her fall on the Skyrhune, and sometimes resolve to walk, one comes to wonder if she is not currently faster uphill than downhill.

The Paris-2024 marathon in the sights?

“This is what is even more hallucinating with her, decrypts Elise Poncet. Normally, the gaps are mostly downhill in these short trail formats, so that shows its potential for the future ”. At 27, the one who also posted a time of 33’06 this year on a simple test of 10,000 m on an athletics track has a whole career to build: “I would like to see what I’m worth in a marathon on of the dish. The longer distances of the trail, it may be for later ”.

Because her near future, she sees it rather partly on the asphalt: “It is a dream for me to qualify for European championships or Olympic Games in marathon”. Anaïs Sabrié seems convinced by this option: “Given her stride on the flat, we could definitely find her in the marathon of the Olympics-2024 in Paris”. Until then, “the Flying Dutchwoman” could still astonish us by taking part in the Olympic Games in triathlon or archery, who knows ?

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