Luc Van Lierde (born 14 April 1969 in

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

) is a former

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

from

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, who has been competing in

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the ...

since 1990 and who has been a professional triathlon coach since 2009.

Athletic career

Van Lierde's international career started in 1990 when he came fourth in the World Olympic Distance Triathlon Championships. In the full-length Ironman triathlon, which involves

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

3.8 km,

cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

180 km and

running Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion by which humans and other animals move quickly on foot. Running is a gait with an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is in contrast to walkin ...

a 42.2 km marathon, he was ranked among the first ten in the European Championships three times between 1990 and 1995. 1995 was a decisive year for Luc Van Lierde, when he took second place at the ITU World Championships, and came second in the European Olympic Distance Triathlon Championships. In 1996 he won the European Championships and came second in the World Championships in the Olympic Distance Triathlon. He won the Nice Triathlon and became World Long Course Triathlon Champion. Luc Van Lierde became the first

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

ever to win the

Ironman World Championship The Ironman World Championship is a triathlon held annually in Hawaii, United States from 1978 to 2022, with no race in 2020 and an additional race in 1982. It is owned and organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. It is the annual culminat ...

, beating the existing record by three minutes. Luc Van Lierde went on to clock the fastest Ironman Triathlon ever in 1997, doing 7:50:27 (0:44, 4:28, 2:36, plus transition) in Ironman Europe. Absent from the Ironman 1998, after undergoing an operation, he nevertheless won the

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

Sports Personality of the Year trophy. In 1999, he once again won the

in Hawaii, outrunning the second placed competitor by six minutes. During that same year, he received the Giant of Flanders trophy awarded by the two Flanders section of the Association of Professional Journalists. Luc_van_Lierde

Triathlon coach

In 2009, after more than 20 years as a professional triathlete, Van Lierde began a career as a triathlon coach. Frederik Van Lierde (not related) approached Van Lierde with the request to coach him. One year later he managed to coach Frederik Van Lierde to a third place at the

2012 Ironman World Championship The 2012 Ironman World Championship was a long distance triathlon competition held on October 13, 2012 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The championship won by Pete Jacobs of Australia and Leanda Cave of England. It was the 36th such Ironman Triathlon Wo ...

. In 2013, he coached Frederik to the

2013 Ironman World Championship The 2013 Ironman World Championship was a long distance triathlon competition that was held on October 12, 2013 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The event was won by Belgium's Frederik Van Lierde and Australia's Mirinda Carfrae. It was the 37th edition o ...

. Van Lierde has successfully coached several other professional athletes, including Marino Vanhoenacker,

Iván Raña Iván Raña Fuentes (born 10 June 1979) is a Spanish people, Spanish triathlon, triathlete and the winner of three medals in the World Triathlon Championships between the years of 2002–2004. He also has won three medals at the European Leagu ...

, Will Clarke,

Michelle Vesterby Michelle may refer to: People *Michelle (name), a given name and surname, the feminine form of Michael * Michelle Courtens, Dutch singer, performing as "Michelle" * Michelle (German singer) * Michelle (Scottish singer) (born 1980), Scottish w ...

, and Saleta Castro.

Notable achievements

* 1995: Silver medal at the

World Triathlon Long Distance Championships The World Triathlon Long Distance Championships is a triathlon race held annually since 1994. The championships involve a continuous swim-cycle-run, over distances varying between that of an Olympic-distance and an Iron-distance triathlon race. The ...

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Europe Triathlon Championships The Europe Triathlon Championships are the main triathlon championships in Europe organised by Europe Triathlon. Conducted over the 'standard' or 'Olympic' triathlon distance of a 1500m swim, a 40 km bike and 10 km run, the event has ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

* 1996: Winner

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

(new record; 8:04.08) * 1996: Winner European Triathlon Championship,

Szombathely } Szombathely (; ; also see #Etymology, names) is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas County in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria. Szombathely lies by the streams ''Perint'' and '' ...

* 1996: Winner Triathlon International de Nice * 1996: Silver medal at the

, Muncie * 1996: Silver medal 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 ...

in the Quarter Triathlon * 1997: Gold medal at the

, Nice * 1997: Winner Ironman Europe, Nice (7:50:27, world record for Ironman event) * 1998: Gold medal at the

Sado Island is an island located in the eastern part of the Sea of Japan, under the jurisdiction of Sado City, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, with a coastline of . In October 2017, Sado Island had a population of 55,212 people. Sado Island covers an area of ...

* 1998: Second at the Ironman World Championship, Hawaii * 1999: Winner Ironman World Championship, Hawaii (8:17.17) * 2000: Winner St. Croix Triathlon (2k/55k/12k) * 2000: Winner Superman Triatlon,

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

* 2003: Winner Ironman

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

(8:31.16) * 2004: Winner Ironman Malaysia (8:48.02) * 2006: 3rd at the Ironman 70.3

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

* 2007: 2nd at the Ironman

Lanzarote Lanzarote (, , ) is a Spanish island, the easternmost of the Canary Islands, off the north coast of Africa and from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering , Lanzarote is the fourth-largest of the islands in the archipelago. With 163,230 inhabi ...

* 2007: 8th

Ironman Hawaii The Ironman World Championship is a triathlon held annually in Hawaii, United States from 1978 to 2022, with no race in 2020 and an additional race in 1982. It is owned and organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. It is the annual culminat ...

* 2008: 2nd at the IronMan 70.3

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

* 2009: Winner Vienna City Triathlon

Honors and awards

* Flemish Sportsjewel: 1996 * Vlaamse Reus: 1996, 1997, 1999 * Belgian Sportsman of the Year: 1997, 1999 *

Belgian National Sports Merit Award The Belgian National Sports Merit Award is an annual award handed out to a Belgian sportsperson or -team for exceptional merit. Players can only win the award once during their career, making this trophy one of the most prestigious in Belgian sport ...

: 1997 *

Belgian Sports Personality of the Year The Belgian Sports Personality of the Year is a defunct annual sports award that was given out in January by the Belgian newspaper '' Het Nieuwsblad'' to the greatest personality in Belgian sports. It was first awarded in and last handed out ...

: 1999 * Honorary citizen of

Menen Menen (; ; or ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in the Belgium, Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Menen proper and the towns of Lauwe (Belgium), Lau ...

: 2013

References

External links

Personal websiteLuc Van Lierde ITU Profile Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Lierde, Luc Belgian male triathletes Ironman world champions 1969 births Living people Sportspeople from Bruges Triathlon coaches 20th-century Belgian sportsmen