Julien WatrinCareer
He is the Belgian record holder for the 400 m hurdles, Belgian indoor record holder for the 400 m, and won several national titles.
He was diagnosed with testicular cancer in September 2023 which prevented him from participating in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.[2] After successful treatment, he made his return on the international stage at the 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, winning a silver medal as a member of Belgium's 4 × 400 m mixed relay team[3][4] and a bronze medal as a member of Belgium's men 4 × 400 m relay team.[5]
In March 2026, he was selected for the relays at the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland.[6] On the second day of competition, on 21 March, he won the gold medal in the first ever indoor mixed 4 × 400 metres relay running alongside Ilana Hanssens, Jonathan Sacoor and Helena Ponette [7][8] Their time of 3:15.60 was the fastest short track performance recorded for the event.[9] One day later, on 22 March, he won a silver medal in the men's 4 × 400 metres relay running alongside Christian Iguacel, Jonathan Sacoor and Alexander Doom.[10]
Statistics
Watrin reached the semi-finals in the 400 m hurdles at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene.
Julien Watrin narrowly lost to Karsten Warholm in winning his first individual major senior medal in the 400 m final at the 2023 European Indoor Championships in Istanbul.
International competitions
Representing 
Belgium
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Time |
| 2009 |
European Youth Olympic Festival |
Tampere, Finland |
2nd |
100 m |
10.82 |
| 1st |
200 m |
21.06 |
| 3rd |
4 × 100 m relay |
41.69 |
| 2010 |
World Junior Championships |
Moncton, Canada |
7th |
100 m |
10.56 |
| 9th (sf) |
200 m |
21.12 w |
| 13th (h) |
4 × 100 m relay |
40.43 |
| 2011 |
European Junior Championships |
Tallinn, Estonia |
– |
200 m |
DNF |
| 2013 |
European U23 Championships |
Tampere, Finland |
1st |
4 × 400 m relay |
3:04.90 |
| Jeux de la Francophonie |
Nice, France |
4th |
200 m |
21.56 |
| 3rd |
4 × 100 m relay |
39.58 |
| 2014 |
World Relays |
Nassau, Bahamas |
1st (B) |
4 × 400 m relay |
3:02.97 |
| European Championships |
Zürich, Switzerland |
23rd (h) |
400 m |
46.31 |
| 7th |
4 × 400 m relay |
3:02.60 |
| 2015 |
European Indoor Championships |
Prague, Czech Republic |
1st |
4 × 400 m relay |
3:02.87 WL AR |
| World Relays |
Nassau, Bahamas |
3rd |
4 × 400 m relay |
2:59.33 |
| 2016 |
European Championships |
Amsterdam, Netherlands |
10th (sf) |
400 m |
45.76 |
| 1st |
4 × 400 m relay |
3:01.10 |
| Olympic Games |
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
4th |
4 × 400 m relay |
2:58.52 |
| 2017 |
European Indoor Championships |
Belgrade, Serbia |
2nd |
4 × 400 m relay |
3:07.80 |
| World Relays |
Nassau, Bahamas |
2nd (B) |
4 × 400 m relay |
3:07.14 |
| 2018 |
European Championships |
Berlin, Germany |
4th (h) |
4 × 400 m relay |
3:02.55 |
| 2019 |
European Indoor Championships |
Glasgow, United Kingdom |
1st |
4 × 400 m relay |
3:06.27 |
| World Relays |
Yokohama, Japan |
8th (h) |
4 × 400 m relay |
3:03.70 |
| World Championships |
Doha, Qatar |
3rd (h) |
4 × 400 m relay |
3:00.87 |
| 2022 |
World Indoor Championships |
Belgrade, Serbia |
6th (sf) |
400 m |
46.54 |
| 1st |
4 × 400 m relay |
3:06.52 |
| World Championships |
Eugene, OR, United States |
14th (sf) |
400 m hurdles |
49.52 |
| 3rd |
4 × 400 m relay |
2:58.72 |
| European Championships |
Munich, Germany |
6th |
400 m hurdles |
48.98 |
| 2nd |
4 × 400 m relay |
2:59.49 |
| 2023 |
European Indoor Championships |
Istanbul, Turkey |
2nd |
400 m |
45.44 |
| 1st |
4 × 400 m relay |
3:05.83 |
| World Championships |
Budapest, Hungary |
17th (sf) |
400 m hurdles |
48.94 |
| 9th (h) |
4 × 400 m relay |
3:00.33 |
| 2025 |
European Indoor Championships |
Apeldoorn, Netherlands |
2nd |
4 × 400 m mixed |
3:16.19 |
| 3rd |
4 × 400 m relay |
3:05.18 SB |
| World Relays |
Guangzhou, China |
6th |
4 × 400 m mixed relay |
3:16.45 |
| 2026 |
World Indoor Championships |
Toruń, Poland |
1st |
4 × 400 m mixed relay |
3:15.60 |
| 2nd |
4 × 400 m relay |
3:03.29 |
External links
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- 1991:
 Germany (Lieder, Carlowitz, Just, Schönlebe)
- 1993:
 United States (Hall, Irvin, Rouser, Everett)
- 1995: United States (Tolbert, Davis, Long, Atwater)
- 1997: United States (Rouser, Everett, Maye, Minor)
- 1999: United States (Morris, Johnson, Minor, Campbell)
- 2001:
 Poland (Rysiukiewicz, Haczek, Bocian, Maćkowiak)
- 2003: United States (Davis, Young, Campbell, Washington)
- 2004:
 Jamaica (Haughton, Colquhoun, McDonald, Clarke)
- 2006: United States (Washington, Merritt, Campbell, Spearmon)
- 2008: United States (Davis, Torrance, Nixon, Willie)
- 2010: United States (Torrance, Nixon, Tate, Jackson)
- 2012: United States (Wright, Smith Jr., Mitchell, Roberts)
- 2014: United States (Clemons, Verburg, Butler III, Smith Jr., Parros, Babineaux)
- 2016: United States (Clemons, Smith Jr., Giesting, Norwood)
- 2018: Poland (Zalewski, Omelko, Krawczuk, Krzewina)
- 2022: Belgium (Watrin, Doom, Sacoor, K. Borlée)
- 2024: Belgium (Sacoor, D. Borlée, Iguacel, Doom, De Smet)
- 2025: United States (Godwin, Faust, Patterson, Bailey)
- 2026: United States (Robinson, Robinson, Smith, McRae, Godwin, Tomlyanovich)
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- 1934:
 Germany (Hamann, Scheele, Voigt, Metzner)
- 1938:
 Germany (Blazejezak, Bues, Linnhoff, Harbig)
- 1946:
 France (Santona, Cros, Chef d'Hôtel, Lunis)
- 1950:
 Great Britain (Pike, Lewis, Scott, Pugh)
- 1954: France (Haarhoff, Degats, Martin-du-Gard, Goudeau)
- 1958: Great Britain (Sampson, MacIsaac, Wrighton, Salisbury)
- 1962: West Germany (Kindermann, Schmitt, Reske, Kinder)
- 1966:
 Poland (Werner, Borowski, Grędziński, Badeński)
- 1969: France (Bertould, Nicolau, Carette, Nallet)
- 1971: West Germany (Schlöske, Jordan, Jellinghaus, Köhler)
- 1974: Great Britain (Cohen, Hartley, Pascoe, Jenkins)
- 1978: West Germany (Weppler, Hofmeister, Herrmann, Schmid)
- 1982: West Germany (Skamrahl, Schmid, Giessing, Weber)
- 1986: Great Britain (Redmond, Akabusi, Whittle, Black)
- 1990: Great Britain (Sanders, Akabusi, Regis, Black)
- 1994: Great Britain (McKenzie, Black, Whittle, Ladejo)
- 1998: Great Britain (Hylton, Baulch, Thomas, Richardson)
- 2002: Great Britain (Deacon, Elias, Baulch, Caines)
- 2006: France (Djhone, M'Barke, Keïta, Raquil)
- 2010:
 Russia (Dyldin, Aksyonov, Krasnov, Trenikhin)
- 2012: Belgium (Gillet, J. Borlée, Bouckaert, K. Borlée)
- 2014: Great Britain (Rooney, Bingham, Williams, Hudson-Smith)
- 2016: Belgium (Watrin, J. Borlée, D. Borlée, K. Borlée)
- 2018: Belgium (D. Borlée, J. Borlée, J. Sacoor, K. Borlée)
- 2022: Great Britain (Hudson-Smith, Dobson, Davey, Haydock-Wilson)
- 2024: Belgium (Sacoor, Vanderbemden, D. Borlée, Doom)
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- 2000:
 Czech Republic (Mužík, Poděbradský, Tesařík, Bláha)
- 2002: Poland (Plawgo, Rysiukiewicz, Gąsiewski, Maćkowiak)
- 2005: France (Maunier, Wallard, Panel, Raquil)
- 2007: Great Britain (Garland, Tobin, Taylor, Green)
- 2009:
 Italy (Marin, Galvan, Rao, Licciardello)
- 2011: France (Macedot, Djhone, Hanne, Décimus)
- 2013: Great Britain (Levine, Bingham, Strachan, Buck)
- 2015: Belgium (Watrin, D. Borlée, J. Borlée, K. Borlée)
- 2017: Poland (Kozłowski, Krawczuk, Waściński, Omelko)
- 2019: Belgium (Watrin, J. Borlée, D. Borlée, K. Borlée)
- 2021:
 Netherlands (Dobber, Bonevacia, Angela, van Diepen)
- 2023: Belgium (Watrin, Doom, D. Borlée, K. Borlée)
- 2025: Netherlands (Omalla, Smidt, Klein Ikkink, van Diepen)
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| Men's winners | |
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| Women's winners | |
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| Men's talent winners | |
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| Women's talent winners | |
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| G-promotors | |
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