| Lina Nielsen | |
| Birth Date: | 13 March 1996 |
| Birth Place: | London, England |
| Hometown: | London, England |
| Height: | 1.73 m |
| Weight: | 60 kg |
| Sport: | Track and field |
| Event: | 400 metres hurdles |
| Club: | Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers |
Lina Nielsen (born 13 March 1996) is a British sprinter,[1] hurdler and yoga instructor.
Nielsen won the 400 m hurdles at the 2021 European Athletics Team Championships with 55.59. Nielsen has a twin sister, Laviai Nielsen, who is also an international athlete over 400m.[2] [3]
At the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Nielsen won a bronze medal as part of the 4x400 metres relay team which also included her sister Laviai Nielsen.[4]
After winning the 400 metres hurdles gold medal at the 2024 British Athletics Championships, Nielsen was subsequently named in the Great Britain team for the 2024 Summer Olympics[5] where she went out in the semi-finals after hitting a hurdle and falling to the track.[6]
Nielsen grew up in Leytonstone, East London.[7] Her mother is Egyptian-Sudanese and her father is Danish.[8] In 2017, she graduated from Queen Mary University of London with a degree in chemistry.
Lina is also a yoga teacher, having undertaken her teaching training in Rishikesh in the summer of 2019. She is now one of the yoga instructors on the fitness app Fiit.[9]
In August 2022, Nielsen revealed she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis,[10] at the age of 17. She chose to keep her diagnosis private for nine years, but following a relapse two days prior to her World Athletics Championships heats in Oregon she decided to go public with her story.[11]
| 2015 | European Junior Championships | Eskilstuna, Sweden | 8th | 400 m | 54.72 | |
| bgcolor=gold | 1st | 4 x 400 m relay | 3:34.36 | |||
| 2017 | European Indoor Championships | Belgrade, Serbia | — | |||
| European U23 Championships | Bydgoszcz, Poland | 4th | 4 x 400 m relay | 3:30.74 | ||
| 2021 | European Team Championships, Super League | Chorzów, Poland | bgcolor=gold | 1st | 400 m hurdles | 3:29.27 |
| bgcolor=silver | 2nd | 4 x 400 m relay | 3:27.16 | |||
| 2022 | World Championships | Eugene, United States | 33rd (h) | 400 m hurdles | 57.42 | |
| Commonwealth Games | Birmingham, United Kingdom | 11th (h) | 400 m hurdles | 58.95 | ||
| European Championships | Munich, Germany | 21st (sf) | 400 m hurdles | 57.19 | ||
| 2024 | World Indoor Championships | Glasgow, United Kingdom | 3rd | 4 x 400 m relay | 3:26.36 | |
| European Championships | Rome, Italy | 7th | 400 m hurdles | 55.65 |