Growing up Claire dabbled in a variety of sports, including, soccer, tennis, basketball, swimming, Irish dance, gymnastics, swimming as well as cross country. It quickly became evident that she was an endurance based athlete. Claire swam and ran throughout her high school years, before focusing on track and cross country at the University of Oregon (UO) where she specialised in the 3000m steeplechase.
After graduating with a degree in International Business and Romance Language from UO in 2011, she moved back to her native country of Belgium to pursue the Olympic standard in the steeplechase, work in an international environment and brush up on her languages. Unfortunately, injuries put an end to her track career by mid-2012, but that did not extinguish her Olympic dream, and that’s when she found triathlon.
So with a pink-flowered surf wetsuit, borrowed bike, an old pair of shorts and t-shirt, she had an absolute blast in her first triathlon and reignited her passion for sport. Fast forward three and half years and despite a challenging process, she qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games.
With renewed energy and a relentless hunger to improve, Claire has now set her focus on Tokyo 2020. In December 2016, she joined The Triathlon Squad based in Southern California, USA, led by coach Paulo Sousa.
Recent Highlights
- 4th place at the 2017 Düsseldorf ETU Sprint Triathlon European Championships;
- 7th place at the 2017 ITU World Triathlon Stockholm;
- 9th place at the 2017 ITU World Triathlon Yokohama;
- 16th place at the 2017 ITU World Triathlon Edmonton; and
- 21st place at the 2017 ITU World Triathlon Hamburg.
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Tongyeong, Korea, South
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