Van der Weken, Querinjean Finish 4th at Diamond League Final in Brussels

On Saturday 5 September 2026, Luxembourg athletes Patrizia van der Weken and Ruben Querinjean represented the Grand Duchy at the Diamond League Final, the Memorial Van Damme, held at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium.

According to the Luxembourg Athletics Federation (FLA), this was the first time that two Luxembourg athletes had qualified for the final of the competition.

During the Diamond League season, sprinter Patrizia van der Weken twice finished third in the women's 100m, at meetings in Stockholm, Sweden, and Doha, Qatar. Her season best ahead of the final stood at 11.05 seconds.

In Brussels, Patrizia van der Weken lined up alongside Olympic champion Sha’Carri Richardson of the United States, Great Britain's Amy Hunt and Jamaica's Tina Clayton, a world silver medallist. Tina Clayton won the race in 10.93 seconds and was the only athlete to finish under eleven seconds. Van der Weken placed fourth in 11.08 seconds, just one hundredth of a second behind third-placed Sha’Carri Richardson.

“I wanted to run faster. Going under eleven seconds would be great this year. I mean, the conditions here are good, but not great. It's a little bit chilly. The wind wasn't too strong. But overall I'm very happy. I spotted a lot of Luxembourgish flags, so it's so nice to see and I'm happy that I could come here and kind of deliver at fourth place. I mean, I'm not complaining too much,” Patrizia van der Weken told Chronicle.lu after the race.

Commenting on competing against some of the world's leading sprinters, Patrizia van der Weken added: “It's definitely good. I think I deserve my spot there, that's for sure. I would've liked to be high up on the podium a few weeks ago at Europeans. Obviously I didn't, so that was disappointing. But still I know if I'm healthy and if I can get some good sessions under my belt, I'll be fine. And I like those competition moments head to head. It's always nice if you can be in front of people or close to people. So that's cool. I really enjoy high level competitions.”

Patrizia van der Weken's next and final competition of the season will be the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, taking place from Friday 11 to Sunday 13 September 2026.

Ruben Querinjean also finished just outside the podium in the men’s 3000m steeplechase. The European silver medallist moved into the top four on the penultimate lap and appeared to be closing the gap on Kenya’s Simon Koech, who was running in third place. However, after the final barrier, it became clear that there was not enough distance left to overtake him.

Ruben Querinjean eventually finished fourth in 8:11.97. Ethiopia’s Gemechu Godana won the race in 8:08.67.

“I'm very happy. It was a race for the experience and I did it well. I did some mistakes, but that's good to do that now and not next year. So I'm happy with it,” Ruben Querinjean told Chronicle.lu after the race.

Referring to the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, where he won silver in the men’s 3000m steeplechase a few weeks earlier, Ruben Querinjean added: “I didn't know so well that I was in shape before Birmingham. Birmingham told me, ‘Okay, yes, you're in shape.’ This year told me more that I'm really in shape. So I knew that today if I had my legs in my mind, everything can be fine, but I have to run and to be smart in the run and I did it.”

Asked about the possibility of breaking the eight-minute barrier in the future, Ruben Querinjean said: “It's complicated to say because next season is far away. I hope to don't be injured, to work a lot and to construct my body and maybe go down to the eight minutes. It can be a great goal. Maybe not for next year, but for the next couple of years it can be a good idea.”

Ruben Querinjean's next competition will be the Letz Mile in Luxembourg on Saturday 12 September 2026.

(Caption: Ruben Querinjean, Luxembourg's runner; Credit: Ievgenii Karanov, Chronicle.lu)