Claire Michel

Claire Michel (born 13 October 1988 in Brussels) is a Belgian professional triathlete.[1] She is the 2013 Aquathlon vice-World Champion. She has been named Belgian Triathlon's Female Athlete of the Year twice, in 2014[2] and 2015,[3] she's part of the National Team and represented Belgium at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.[4] She is also Belgian Champion on Sprint distance for 2016.

Claire Michel
Personal information
NationalityBelgian, American
Born (1988-10-13) 13 October 1988
Brussels, Belgium
ResidenceBrussels, Belgium
EducationUniversity of Oregon, Solvay Business School
Height168 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight54 kg (119 lb)
Sport
CountryBelgium
SportTriathlon
ClubBrussels Triathlon Club (BTC)
Turned pro2015
Medal record
Representing  Belgium
Women's Triathlon
European Championships
2018 GlasgowMixed relay
Women's Aquathlon
World Championships
2013 LondonElite

Personal life

Michel was born in Brussels from Belgian parents: her mother, Colette Crabbé, represented Belgium in 1976 Montreal Olympic Games in swimming.[5]

At the age of one year she moved to Oregon, where she obtained the Bachelor of Arts at University of Oregon in 2011. She then moved back to Belgium, where she worked at the American Chamber of Commerce in Brussels and she completed "Advanced Masters in Innovation and Strategic Management" in 2014 at the Solvay Business School.[6][7]

She lives in Brussels where she is representing the Brussels Triathlon Club.

Career

Michel started her sport career at 12 years, after reading about her mother competing in the Montreal Olympics, representing her high-school in swimming competitions. At 14, she also started competing in cross-country running and track and field, immediately becoming one of the top junior athletes in Oregon in both endeavors. She then joined the University of Oregon athletic team, thanks to a scholarship for her sport results. She set a 3,000 meter steeplechase school-record and got 8th place in the NCAA Championship in 2011.[8][9] A stress fracture prevented her from qualifying for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

In 2012, she shifted to triathlon, and joined the Brussels Triathlon Club. She became Belgian Champion on the Sprint distance in 2012. In her second year of triathlon she competed in five ITU events, winning the silver medal at the ITU Aquathlon World Championships in London.

In 2014, while still finishing her post master at Solvay University, she competed in both World Triathlon Series and World Cup races: her best positions of the year were a 3rd place in Chengdu World Cup race, and a 6th place in Yokohama. She finished the year in 33rd position in the World Triathlon Series ranking, first female Belgian.[10] During the conference Triathlon World she has been elected as female "Athlète de l'année 2014".

In 2015 Michel started competing as professional triathlete, with a 24th position in the second race of the 2015 World Cup in New Plymouth, 1'40" behind race winner Kaitlin Donner and with 4th place in the running section, just 6 seconds behind the winner.[11] In the second race of the season she had a bike crash and she had to abandon the race; the same happened in the 3rd race of the season in Cape Town, and sprained foot ligaments forced Michel to miss the Far-East section of the World Cup and World Series, and drop out from the Olympic Qualification List for Rio.

Back to races after the injuries, she finished 17th in London, just a minute from race winner Gwen Jorgensen.[12] A few weeks later she represented Belgium at the First European Games in Baku. Michel arrived 8th in the Women competition, a bit less than 4 minutes behind race winner Nicola Spirig. She was around the 30th position after T2, but thanks to the 6th split in the run fraction she overtook most of chase pack, finishing in the top 10.[13] Unfortunately, slipping on a pool in Baku, she injured again the same foot and suffered a broken metatarsal, putting her out of competition for two months.[14]

Returned to racing in August, Michel finished 4th in Riga Sprint ETU race, but problems with foot and difficult weather conditions didn't allow her to compete at top of her form in the last 3 races of the World Triathlon Series. The last three races of the season were a different story: she always finished in the top 15, with the highlight of the 9th position in Cozumel, and she was always among the first top 5 times in the running fraction. These end season performances gave a big boost to her rankings as she finished the year at the 57th position in ITU Point list[15] and 58th in the ITU Olympic Qualification List,[16] and back into the athletes going to Rio 2016. And she was again awarded the Belgian Triathlon female "Athlète de l'année 2015".

The Olympic year did not start very well for Michel, finishing the first 4 races of 2016 always at the bottom of the standings, always due to bad performances in the bike fraction. This negative trend ended in Chengdu where, despite a bad swim fraction which put her 1'18" behind the best swimmer Summer Cook, she was able to catch the right "bike train", arrive in T2 in the first group, and run herself in the first second position of her career, 36 seconds behind the winner Cook.[17]

In the last two Olympic qualifying races she didn't perform very well (19th place and a DNF) but still was able to keep her position inside the top 50 athletes to be selected for Rio.

After having secured the qualification for Rio, Michel competed in Stockholm, finishing with 17th, followed by two wins in Belgian Sprint Championship and Europa Cup Sprint distance in Rotterdam.

The Olympic games didn't go well for Michel, at the bottom of the group in the swimming leg, lapped during the bike leg, thus disqualified.[18] Same result at the World Cup Final in Cozumel, Mexico, where she was lapped during the bike ride.

Michel, after the disappointment, decided to focus on the next Olympic games, moving to San Diego and joining the Triathlon Squad coached by coach Paulo Sousa in San Diego.[19]

Results

Claire Michel's ITU and ETU race results are:[20]

Results list
Date Competition Distance Place Rank
08/06/2013European CupSprintCremona 20
29/06/2013Premium European CupSprintHolten 9
25/08/2013European CupOlympicKarlovy Vary 9
11/09/2013World ChampionshipsAquathlonLondon  Silver
29/09/2013World CupOlympicAlicante 32
15/03/2014World CupSprintMooloolaba 21
23/03/2014World CupSprintNew Plymouth 23
06/04/2014World Triathlon SeriesOlympicAuckland 27
10/05/2014World CupOlympicChengdu  Bronze
17/05/2014World Triathlon SeriesOlympicYokohama 6
20/06/2014European ChampionshipsOlympicKitzbühel 17
28/06/2014World Triathlon SeriesOlympicChicago 28
12/07/2014World Triathlon SeriesSprintHamburg 40
29/08/2014World Triathlon Series Grand FinalOlympicEdmonton 24
22/03/2015World CupSprintNew Plymouth 24
29/03/2015World Triathlon SeriesOlympicAuckland DNF
26/04/2015World Triathlon SeriesOlympicCape Town DNF
31/05/2015World Triathlon SeriesSprintLondon 17
13/06/2015European GamesOlympicBaku 8
09/08/2015European CupSprintRiga 4
22/08/2015World Triathlon SeriesOlympicStockholm DNF
06/09/2015World Triathlon SeriesSprintEdmonton 32
18/09/2015World Triathlon Series Grand FinalOlympicChicago 52
04/10/2015World CupSprintCozumel 9
17/10/2015World CupOlympicAlanya 14
24/10/2015World CupOlympicTongyeong 12
05/03/2016World Triathlon SeriesOlympicAbu Dhabi 50
12/03/2016World CupSprintMooloolaba 37
03/04/2016World CupSprintNew Plymouth 38
09/04/2016World Triathlon SeriesOlympicGold Coast 37
16/04/2016World CupOlympicChengdu  Silver
07/05/2016World CupOlympicHuatulco 19
14/05/2016World Triathlon SeriesOlympicYokohama DNF
12/06/2016Belgian ChampionshipSprintGullegem  Gold [21]
02/07/2016World Triathlon SeriesOlympicStockholm 17
14/05/2016European CupSprintRotterdam  Gold
20/08/2016Olympic GamesOlympicRio LAP
17/09/2016World Triathlon Series Grand FinalOlympicCozumel LAP

References
  1. "Claire Michel". triathlon.org. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  2. "Athlète de l'année (Femme, Homme et Espoir)". www.lbftd.be/. Archived from the original on 14 February 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  3. "Honored to be selected Female Triathlete of the Year". www.facebook.com/. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  4. "National Federations select athletes for Rio Olympics". triathlon.org. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  5. "Colette Crabbe Bio, Stats, and Results". www.sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2020-04-18.
  6. "Claire Michel profile". be.linkedin.com. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  7. "Claire Michel, le triathlon quatre à quatre (interview to Clarie Michel)". Le Soir. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  8. "Claire Michel bio". Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  9. "NCAA Division I Championships 2011 Women's 3000 Steeplechase". Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  10. "2014 Women World Triathlon Series Rankings" (PDF). Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  11. "2015 New Plymouth ITU Triathlon World Cup : Mar 22 2015 : Elite Women : Results". Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  12. "2015 ITU World Triathlon London : May 31 2015 : Elite Women : Results". Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  13. "Baku 2015 European Games - Triathlon - Women". Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  14. "Diagnosis: fracture of the 2nd metatarsal & part of the 3rd. 2 months no running, but I can swim & bike". Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  15. "ITU Points List". Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  16. "ITU Olympic Qualification List". Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  17. "Cook with winning recipe in Chengdu". Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  18. "Michel et Verstuyft doublées et non classées sur le triathlon féminin, Jorgensen titrée".
  19. "Claire Michel, le triathlon en mode " California girl "".
  20. "Claire Michel Results". International Triathlon Union. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  21. "Gullegem krijgt toppodium". Retrieved 23 June 2016.
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