Dutch 10km record-holder aiming to make an impact at the World Championships in Hungarian capital

Diane van Es is aiming to translate her meteoric rise on the roads to the track at next month’s World Championships [August 19-27].

The Dutch 24-year-old, who is an ASICS athlete, will take on the 10,000m in Budapest and look to continue her spectacular season.

Back in February, Van Es took 12 seconds off Lornah Kiplagat’s 19-year-old Dutch 10km record of 30:41, running an astonishing 30:29 in Schoorl.

What was even more impressive however was that it was the fifth fastest 10km time by a European female in history and also put her fourth on the European all-time list.

The only three women from the continent who have gone faster than Van Es over the distance are Lonah Salpeter, Eilish McColgan and Paula Radcliffe. It’s not bad company.

AW caught up with Van Es out at ASICS’s Chojo Camp Europe, the brand’s first European pro-athlete training centre in Font-Romeu, ahead of Budapest.

The camp allows athletes the chance to both relax and train at altitude in the Pyrenees and embodies ASICS’ slogan of a “sound mind in a sound body”.

“My personal best was about two and a half minutes slower (32:50) back then but until that point [Schoorl], I hadn’t done a serious 10km beforehand,” Van Es tells AW,” reflecting on her Dutch 10km record.  “I knew I could get a lot faster and I was in perfect shape. How quick I actually went though was a surprise.

“I got a lot of messages from people congratulating me. A lot of them didn’t actually believe the time and they thought it was 31:29!

“It’s really amazing to be in that position on the all-time list and to be just a couple of seconds behind Paula Radcliffe because when I was younger I used to look up to her as she was so much faster than everyone else and her times were just amazing”

The fact that Van Es is only eight seconds and 10 seconds behind Radcliffe and McColgan’s respective personal 10km bests shows how far the Dutch athlete has come.

Performing well in the 10,000m at next month’s World Championships is now the main goal.

Van Es has already lowered her personal best in the distance to 31:02.24 – a time she ran back in May at the Sound Running Track Fest meet in Los Angeles – and she wants to make an impression once again.

That time puts her fourth on the Dutch 10,000m all-time list. Sifan Hassan is top of that and Van Es is inspired by her compatriot, ahead of a race where the two are more than likely to meet.

“It’s really big motivation to go with the world’s best and I hope I can compete at the world championships,” Van Es says.

“Sifan and Femke Bol have done such an amazing job for Dutch athletics and I hope I can follow their success.

“I don’t have a position in my mind [in Budapest] but top eight will be really cool. I hope to close the gap to the world’s best and one day I can get a medal.”

Van Es’s training in Font-Romeu, an altitude of around 6000 feet, incorporates track sessions, tempo runs around the 1km “Paula Radcliffe” loop and long runs around the lake (Lac de Matemale) or woods in Bolquère.

A base to solely focus on training and mindset, influencing both her physical and mental health in a positive way, is hugely beneficial to Van Es and gives her breathing space ahead of a major championships.

“I really like it here, it’s a super cool place to go and train,” she adds. “I’m always running in the forest and on the track and I love it. I personally really like the hills so it’s pretty good being here and I like it more than training in the Netherlands!

“I couldn’t agree more to the importance of a healthy body, combined with a healthy mind.”

Van Es points to her experience at the Tokyo Olympics – her first major championships – as one where she wasn’t in the best shape or frame of mind.

She finished 16th in her 5000m heat and clocked 15:47.01. Van Es is now using that as motivation for Budapest.

“Tokyo was a bit of a challenge to me and I had no idea how to prepare for such a big event,” she says. “The experience was overwhelming and I wasn’t in good shape at that point. It was pretty hard to be in the back of the pack in an empty stadium.

“My shape is so much better now so I hope to do a lot better in Budapest and I think I will.”