Flying Dutchman

We’re mesmerised, watching Dutch sprinter DAFNE SCHIPPERS’ feet impacting the track. Here’s why: she makes the Earth spin even faster. Because on the 200m home straight, where the athletes reach top speed, she’s the fastest woman on the planet.

- Luis Arribas

Runner’s World has been invited to the cold and windy European headquarters of Nike to meet Dutch sprint sensation – and one of the most Googled athletes on the planet – Dafne Schippers.

Schippers wasn’t even born when top Dutch runner Nelli Cooman reigned over the European short sprints. It was 1989, and continental athletics had yet to see the shift from Eastern European sprinters to French and British stars.

But today, a Dutch woman rules the 100m and 200m once more – not only in Europe, but in the entire world of sprinting.

In order to understand what this means, let’s put some numbers on the board.

Two years ago, as part of a project for the Atletiekunie (Royal Dutch Athletics Federation), researcher and ex-sprinter Daniël van Leeuwen used a laser gun to measure the real speed of sprinters.

At the national championships that year, Van Leeuwen took a position 54m from the start of the indoor 60m dash. When Schippers flew by, she posted a top speed of 38.7km/h.

That very same blond ponytail we’re watching today reaches unbelievable speeds when Schippers’ powerful performance meets the red rubber of the track. Go and see for yourself, if you ever have the opportunity – she’s worth watching live (you can also spot her on on Supersport over the European Diamond League season, which starts in Doha on 4 May and finishes in Brussels on 31 August).

Early days