Laura de Witte (; born 7 August 1995) is a Dutch sprinter who specializes in the

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 ...

. She competed at the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. De Witte was born in

Leek, Netherlands Leek (; ; ) is a village and former municipality in Groningen (province), Groningen province in the northeastern Netherlands. The municipality, which bordered the Drenthe and Friesland provinces, was merged into the municipality of Westerkwartier ...

. Her older sister,

Lisanne de Witte Lisanne de Witte (; born 10 September 1992) is a Dutch track and field athlete who competes in sprinting. She specialises in the 400 metres, where she held the Dutch record with her personal best time of 50.77 seconds from 2018 to 2021. De Wit ...

, is also a 400 m sprinter.

Career

In June 2016, De Witte won the silver medal in the 400 m at the Dutch Championships. Her time of 53.47 seconds ranked second behind only her sister Lisanne. De Witte competed at the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

in July 2016.Heats results
In the

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 ...

, she finished 16th in the semifinals and did not advance to the final. She ran in the heats and the final of the women's 4 × 400 metres relay, and the Dutch team finished seventh. In August 2016, De Witte competed at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

, running in the heats of the women's 4 × 400 metres relay. The Dutch team did not advance to the final. In July 2017, De Witte competed in the

400 m 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 ...

at the European U23 Championships. She ran her personal best time of 52.15 s in the heats to qualify for the final. In the final, she ran 52.51 s to win the bronze medal. In August 2017, De Witte competed at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

. She ran in the heats of the women's 4 × 400 metres relay, in which the Dutch team was disqualified. In August 2018, De Witte competed at the

. She ran in the heats of the

. She had a time of 52.57 s and did not advance to the semifinals. In July 2019, De Witte competed in the

at the

Summer Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "Universi ...

. She finished 16th in the semifinals at 54.45 s and did not advance to the final. In June 2021, De Witte won the silver medal in the 400 m at the Dutch Championships with a time of 53.38 s, finishing behind her sister Lisanne. Laura was then named to the Olympic team. In August 2021, De Witte competed at the

. She ran in the heats and the final of the women's 4 × 400 metres relay, and the Dutch team finished sixth. In August 2022, De Witte competed at 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 ...

. She ran in the heats of the women's 4 × 400 metres relay. The Dutch team finished first in the final, earning a gold medal for De Witte. De Witte struggled during the 2024 season and was unable to break 56.00 s in the 400 m. She did not make the Olympic team.

Personal bests

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 ...

– 11.88 (+0.1 m/s, Oordegem, Lede 2016) *

– 23.23 (+0.9 m/s,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

2016) *

– 52.15 (

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

2017) ** 400 metres indoor – 53.63 (

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. The municipality of Apeldoorn, including the villages of Beekbergen, Loenen (Apeldoorn), Loenen, Ugchelen and Hoenderloo ...

2018)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Witte, Laura De 1995 births 21st-century Dutch sportswomen Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Athletes from Groningen (province) Dutch female sprinters European Athletics Championships winners Living people Olympic athletes for the Netherlands Olympic female sprinters People from Leek, Netherlands