Marijn Kieft

Happy birthday to the Netherlands’ pole vault record holder Marijn Kieft, who has broken two national records this year and made her senior international debut twelve days ago.

January, Zoetermeer: 4.60m, a Dutch indoor national record, taking down a mark that had stood since 2021. July, Hengelo: 4.56m to win the national title outdoors and break the Dutch outdoor record, which had stood since 2015. It was the only outdoor national record set at the entire championships. And she did it in the FBK Stadion — the Fanny Blankers-Koen Stadion, named for the greatest athlete the Netherlands has ever produced. A Dutch national record, set in Blankers-Koen’s own stadium, by a 19-year-old. You could not script it better.

Then, this month, Birmingham: her first senior European Championships, at 19, against the best vaulters in Europe. That is four years of progression compressed into one calendar year, and it comes on top of a European U20 silver medal in Tampere last summer and four national titles between indoors and out.

She jumps for AAV’36 in Alphen aan den Rijn, the town she was born in, in a club that also sent Maureen Koster to Birmingham and brought home a European silver medal in the 10,000m. Marijn came into the sport through the heptathlon and won a national U20 combined events title before the pole took over completely, which explains a lot — vaulters who arrive from multi-events tend to have the speed, the spring and the air awareness already assembled.

Twenty is a kroonjaar in the Netherlands, one of the birthdays worth making a fuss about. Two national records makes it easy.

Van harte gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag, Marijn! En gefeliciteerd ook aan je hele familie, natuurlijk. Lang zal ze leven, in de gloria — en twintig keer hieperdepiep hoera! 🎂🎁🎉🫶🫶🇳🇱