Merel Maes (born 22 January 2005) is a Belgian high jumper. She is a multiple-time national champion.

Early life

A keen footballer from the age of seven, she played as a full back for East Flemish provincial team Vrasene. She started the high jump in 2017.

Career

2020

In August 2020 as a 15 year-old, she won the

Belgian Athletics Championships The Belgian Athletics Championships ( nl, Belgische kampioenschappen atletiek; french: Championnats de Belgique d'athlétisme) is an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Royal Belgian Athletics League, which serves as the nat ...

title in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

for the first time, setting a Belgian U16 record of 1.79 metres.

2021

In February 2021, whilst still 16 years-old, she won the high jump at the 2021 Belgian Indoor Athletics Championships with a personal best height of 1.91 metres. This was a 10cm improvement from her 1.81m best in 2020. She was the youngest competitor at the

2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held from 4 to 7 March 2021 at the Arena Toruń in Toruń, Poland. This was the second time this event was held in Poland after the 1975 edition in Katowice. The four-day competition featured 1 ...

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in March. She was runner-up at the Belgian Athletics Championships in Brussels in June 2021, with a height of 1.88 metres. She finished fifth at the

2021 World Athletics U20 Championships The 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships, also known as the World Junior Championships, was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born no earlier than 1 January 2002), which was held from 18 to 22 August 2 ...

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

with a 1.84m clearance.

2022

She finished third at the Belgian Championships in Gentbrugge in June 2022, clearing 1.82 metres. She won bronze at the

2022 European Athletics U18 Championships The 2022 European Athletics U18 Championships is the third edition of the biennial continental athletics competition for European athletes aged fifteen to seventeen. It is held in Jerusalem, Israel from the 4th to the 7th of July at the Hebrew Un ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

with a height of 1.86 metres. She finished fifth at the

2022 World Athletics U20 Championships The 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships, also known colloquially by its former official title, the World Junior Championships, was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born no earlier than 1 January 2003 ...

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...

, Colombia with a height of 1.88 metres.

2023

In February 2023, she won the high jump at the 2023 Belgian Indoor Athletics Championships in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

. She finished second in the Division I high jump competition at the

2023 European Athletics Team Championships The 2023 European Athletics Team Championships (ETC) in athletics will be held in Stadion Śląski in June 2023. The event was first planned to be held in Madrid, but after European Athletics and European Olympic Committee reached to an agreement ...

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

in June 2023, equalling her personal best of 1.92 metres and only losing on count back to Nawal Meniker of France. In July 2023, she equaled the Belgian U20 record set by

Sabrina De Leeuw Sabrina De Leeuw (born 19 August 1974) is a retired Belgian high jumper. She won the 1993 European Junior Championships, and the gold medal at the 1997 Jeux de la Francophonie, She also competed at the 1993 World Championships without reaching ...

in 1993, with a 1.93m clearance in

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Regio ...

. She finished sixth at the

2023 European Athletics U20 Championships The 2023 European Athletics U20 Championships are the twenty-seventh edition of the biennial athletics competition between European athletes under the age of twenty. The 2023 European Athletics U20 Championships are organized by European Athlet ...

in Jerusalem. She won the Belgian national title again in July 2023 clearing a height of 1.80 metres in poor weather conditions in

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

. In August 2023, she made her senior major global championship debut, at the age of 18 years-old, at the

2023 World Athletics Championships The 2023 World Athletics Championships ( hu, 2023-as atlétikai világbajnokság), the nineteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships, are scheduled to be held from 19 August to 27 August 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. The city of Budapes ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. She cleared a height of 1.89 metres without qualifying for the final.

2024

She was selected for the

2024 European Athletics Championships The 26th European Athletics Championships will be held from 7 to 12 June 2024 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. It will be the third time Italy has staged this sporting the event after the inaugural 1934 edition in Turin, for men only, and t ...

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in June 2024.

References

External links

* 2005 births Living people Belgian female high jumpers Belgian Athletics Championships winners 21st-century Belgian sportswomen {{Belgium-athletics-bio-stub