Julien Bonvin (born 10 January 1999) is a Swiss sprinter who specialises in the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Summer Olympics, Olympic Sport of athletics, athletics programme since 1900 Summer Olympics, 1900 for men and since 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 for women. On a ...

. He has been the national champion in the 400 metres hurdles ever since 2021, earning the title consecutively three times in a row. He is also the 2023 Swiss champion for the indoor

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

Early life and career

Julien Bonvin was born on 10 January 1999 in

Sierre Sierre (; ; ) is the capital municipality of the district of Sierre, located in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It has a population of 18,020. Sierre is nicknamed City of the Sun () for its average of 300 days of sunshine a year. It is t ...

, Switzerland. His passion for athletics developed at the age of 14. Immediately, he fell in love with the 400 metres hurdles.

2016

He won his first national title, as a junior, at the Swiss U18 Championships in September 2016. He competed in the

300 metres hurdles The 300 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. It is a standard event under the NFHS in American high school competition and a championship level event in Masters athletics. The two iterations of the event vary somewhat. Common to a ...

and came in first place. Also, he made his international debut at the 2016 European U18 Championships in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

, Georgia and finished in fifth place during the semi-finals. However, he was eliminated before he could advance to the final round.

2017–2019

He claimed additional national titles in the 400 metres hurdles at the Swiss U20 Championships in 2017 and 2018. He kept up his winning streak for another year at the 2019 Swiss U23 Championships, where he finished in first place in the 400 metres hurdles.

2021

He participated in the 2021 U23 Championships in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

, Estonia. He finished in fifth place and reached a new personal best of 49.56 in the 400 metres hurdles. However, the 4 x 400 m relay group that he was a part of did not finish in the event. He ran the first leg during the final heat, but as the race neared the end, the Dutch runner pushed his British competitor which caused him to trip the Swiss athlete as a result.

2022

He attended the 2022 World Championships in

Eugene, OR Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. The se ...

, United States. However, he was eliminated during the preliminary rounds of the third heat after he finished in sixth place. The following month, in August, he went to the

2022 European Championships The 2022 European Championships were the second edition of the European Championships (multi-sport event), European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Munich, Germany from 11 to 21 August 2022. The event started three d ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Germany and finished in seventh place.

2023

He was selected, alongside 38 others, to represent Switzerland at the 2023 World Championships in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, Hungary. Although he finished in third place during the preliminary rounds, thus qualifying for the semi-finals, he was eliminated in the second heat before he could advance to the final round.

Achievements

Information from his

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

profile unless otherwise noted.

Personal bests

60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At indoor events, the 60 metres is run on lanes set out in the mi ...

indoor — (

Magglingen Magglingen (French: Macolin) is a village in the municipality of Evilard, located in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. It is situated above the city of Biel/Bienne, at the southern foot of the Jura Mountains. The village is known for being the ...

2023) *

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

— 11.09 (-2.9 m/s,

Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Plac ...

2022) *

— 21.31 (

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

2021) ** 200 metres indoor – 21.23 ( St. Gallen 2023) *

— 49.10 (

2022) ** 400 metres indoor – 46.58 (

2022)

International competitions

National titles

* Swiss Championships (3) **

400 m hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, onc ...

: 2021, 2022, 2023 * Swiss Indoor Championships (2) **

: 2023 **

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

: 2022 * Swiss U23 Championships **

: 2019 * Swiss U20 Championships **

: 2017, 2018 * Swiss U18 Championships ** 300 m hurdles: 2016

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonvin, Julien Living people 1999 births Swiss male hurdlers Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Switzerland 21st-century Swiss sportsmen