Lina Nielsen’s big plans
2025 is a big year for Lina Nielsen. Just before last weekend’s GB Championships and World Championship trials, she told me that she has a clear goal for the season: “I would like to get into the world final. Because that isn’t until September, I’m trying not to get too worried about what other people are running. It’s easy to look at other people’s times and wonder: should I be running more? I haven’t raced that much. I know that getting to the final is not made so much in the semifinal as in all the training sessions you put in during the year. I feel that I have ticked all the boxes this winter to ensure I’m ready for September. I battled some of the best girls in the Grand Slam. And to run against them and feel that I’m as good as they are, helps”.
In 2022, Lina ran in the World Championships but was ill and finished last in her heat. She was still struggling with illness in 2023, but then ran a PR (54.43) at the European Championships in Rome, 2024. At the Paris Olympics, she ran 54.65 to qualify comfortably for the semi-finals but tripped on a hurdle in the semi-finals before picking up an Olympic relay medal. She said of her first Olympics: “Paris was a good experience. I would consider that as my first experience on the world stage. Oregon 2022 was my first actual appearance, but I was experiencing problems with MS. Paris was the first time I competed on the world stage, at the age of 28. Call me a late developer!
“I learned so much from that experience. You can’t emulate that kind of experience in training or races. You have to be in a championship. I took so much from the championship. It was nice to share the relay podium with my sister, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I relive it most days and carry fond memories back. We have had hard years, and hopefully it’s something we can repeat in the future. I left Paris a completely different athlete – running to win and battling. I have made a lot of changes in the winter, and hopefully, when we get to the main part of the season, which will be quite late, late July and early August, you will see the results of all that hard work”.
That confidence showed in the 2025 GB champs when she won comfortably. The time (55.39) was not great, but it was all about winning and securing a spot on the…
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