In 2 hours, 22 minutes and 51 seconds, Nienko-Brinkman broke the 19-year-old Dutch national record at the Rotterdam Marathon last weekend, which was only the second official race in Malaysia that Brinkman participated in, and her real identity was that of a female doctor studying Mars in the Department of Geophysics at ETH Zurich.
Before the start of the Rotterdam Marathon, Nienko Brinkman was regarded as an elite runner along with Ethiopian hailu, Kenyan Balcioso and Portuguese champion Sarah Catalina Ribeiro. Speaking to the media, Brinkman said: "I do have a 'blockbuster' dream, but when it happens, it still scares you a little bit, after all, this is my second marathon, everything is a little fresh for me." 」 ”
In the race, Brinkman was not conspicuous at first, with Hailu and Kenyan duo Cherotic and Balsogio breaking early to lead the way, completing the first 10 km in 32 minutes and 55 seconds. At the half-time point, the lead trio took 1 hour, 09 minutes and 56 seconds, at which point Brinkman was about 2 minutes behind.
However, after a few kilometers, the situation on the field changed, Hailu accelerated to shake off Cherotic and Balsogio, and when he completed the 35 kilometers, Hailu took 1 hour, 57 minutes and 34 seconds, and Brinkman had risen to second. In the final stage, Brinkman was able to press forward, but in the end he still trailed Hailu's second line by a gap of 50 seconds, but the finishing time of 2 hours, 22 minutes and 51 seconds was enough to break the Dutch national record of 2 hours, 23 minutes and 43 minutes set by Lorna Kipraguett at the New York Marathon in 2003.
Arguably, Brinkman's first two marathon trips were "beautiful and stunning." The first marathon, which was completed in Valencia last year, was a good time of 2 hours, 26 minutes and 34 seconds, ranking third in the all-time record of the Dutch women's marathon, with only Lorna Kipraguett and Hilda Kibert faster than her.
In fact, Brinkman's original idea was to make his marathon debut in Amsterdam in October 2020, but he had no choice but to give up due to the impact of the epidemic. Finally, she and her running team organized a race around Lake Zurich, and the result was less than 2 hours and 40 minutes, which was less than a year after she practiced running. Because of this, Brinkman naturally attracted the attention of the Dutch media, and it turned out that her experience was indeed "different".
Born on October 28, 1993 in Jakarta, Indonesia, Brinkman returned to the Netherlands to grow up in a small town called Leddorp. There, she has been involved in the sport of hockey, and practiced to the national level two, but because she has never been able to break through further upwards, in 2019 she decided to move to Switzerland to pursue a doctorate in geophysics, which is where she not only started her own Research project on Mars, but also started her running career.
Originally joined a student running group in Zurich and competed in trail running, Brinkman believes that trail running and marathon, although completely different disciplines, do help to enhance the body and mind. In February 2021, Brinkman met Benjamin Ulchi, an environmental scientist, a high-level triathlete and self-taught coach. Under Benjamin's guidance, she improved so fast in running that she even considered hitting the Tokyo Olympics standard line at one point — 2 hours, 29 minutes and 30 seconds — but unfortunately the plan failed to implement due to inflammation in her ankle.
However, after that, whether at the Valencia Marathon or the Auberge Half Marathon in Switzerland in March 2022, Brinkmann showed good competitive form. She also went to a training camp in Kenya for the first time to participate in the Rotterdam Marathon, "where I was able to fully focus on the sport and experience how my body reacts to high-altitude training." Whether it's playing hockey or running, I want to be able to reach the highest level, I'm now putting my studies on the back burner for the time being, and I want to take my talent to the extreme at the marathon. ”
After setting the Dutch national marathon record, Brinkman's next goal is to achieve as much as possible at the European Athletics Championships in Munich this summer, but she will not participate in this year's World Championships in Athletics in Eugene, USA, "I think it would be better to gain and learn from the European Championships not far from home first, but I do want to continue to give my all in this sport." ”
"For now, I think I still have a lot of room for improvement in my training, diet and running skills, and I don't have enough racing experience, but I have the motivation, the desire, and most importantly I really like to run, I definitely want to be able to participate in the Olympics one day, I hope there are good things waiting for me ahead, and I will continue to work hard for this!"