Lina Nielsen
British sprinter (born 1996)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lina Nielsen (born 13 March 1996) is a British national record-holding sprinter and hurdler.[1]
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Nielsen in 2022 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 13 March 1996 London, England |
| Home town | London, England |
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
| Weight | 60 kg (132 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Track and field |
Event | 400 metres hurdles |
| Club | Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal bests |
|
In August 2022, she revealed she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis nine years earlier.[2]
Early life
Nielsen grew up in Leytonstone, East London with her twin sister Laviai.[3] Her mother is Egyptian-Sudanese and her father is Danish.[4] In 2017, she graduated from Queen Mary University of London with a degree in chemistry.[citation needed]
Athletics career
Nielsen won the 400 m hurdles at the 2021 European Athletics Team Championships with 55.59. Nielsen has a twin sister, Laviai Nielsen, who is also an international athlete over 400m.[5][6]
At the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Nielsen won a bronze medal as part of the 4×400 metres relay team, which also included her sister Laviai Nielsen.[7]
After becoming the British 400 metres hurdles champion at the 2024 British Athletics Championships, Nielsen was subsequently named in the Great Britain team for the 2024 Summer Olympics[8] where she went out in the semi-finals after hitting a hurdle and falling to the track. Recovering from that setback, Nielsen ran for Great Britain in the heat of the women's 4×400 metre relay, qualifying for the final in second place. Although, like her three fellow heat runners, she did not run the final, the third place finish for the Great Britain team in that final confirmed that Nielsen had won her first Olympic medal, a bronze.[9][10][11]
On 15 February 2025, she broke the British women’s indoor 300m record in a time of 36.53 seconds in Birmingham.[12] At the 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, she was part of the British 4×400 metres relay team which won a silver medal.[13][14] Nielsen retained her 400 metres hurdles title by winning the 2025 UK Athletics Championships.[15]
Athletics achievements
International competitions
Circuit performances
| Grand Slam Track results[18] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slam | Race group | Event | Pl. | Time | Prize money |
| 2025 Philadelphia Slam | Long hurdles | 400 m hurdles | 6th | 57.14 | US$30,000 |
| 400 m | 1st | 52.60 | |||
Personal life
Nielsen is a yoga teacher, having undertaken her teaching training in Rishikesh in the summer of 2019. She is now one of the yoga instructors on the fitness app Fiit.[19]
In August 2022, Nielsen revealed she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis,[2] at the age of 17. She chose to keep her diagnosis private for nine years, but following a relapse two days prior to her World Athletics Championships heats in Oregon she decided to go public with her story.[20]
