Susan Krumins, née Susan Kuijken (born 8 July 1986), is a Dutch middle‑ and long‑distance runner who represented Nike professionally for 12 years. She was remarkably consistent on the global stage; placing top‑eight at five consecutive global outdoor championships from 2013 to 2019 and earning medals at the European Championships in the off years.
She reached to top of the American collegiate scene in the indoor 2008 season. After winning the mile run at the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) indoor meet, she claimed the 3000m title at the NCAA Indoor Championships in a conference record time of 8:58.14 minutes. She failed to match this outdoors after suffering a mid-season injury, ending up eighth in the 1500m at the NCAA Outdoors, but was in good form at the NCAA Cross Country Championships and was the runner-up.[6] A gold medal came in the under-23 section at the 2008 European Cross Country Championships.[7]
Her most successful collegiate season was in 2009. She started with a win at the ACC indoor championships and a runner-up finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships, then a win over 5000 metres came at the ACC outdoor championships. She secured the collegiate title in the 1500m at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championships and placed third at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Her performances led to Florida State University winning the team titles in ACC competition indoors, outdoors and in cross country.[8]
Professional running
A personal best of 4:05.86 minutes for the 1500m brought her selection for the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, although she did not make it out of the heats stage.[3] Kuijken began competing professionally in 2010, and made her European senior debut at the 2010 European Athletics Championships (running in the heats only). She missed most of the 2011 season, and on her return in 2012 her form was past her peak, with her season's best being 4:10.84 minutes.[4]
The 2013 season saw Kuijken hit new levels of performance. At the Golden Spike Ostrava she was the 1500m runner-up in a best of 4:05.38 minutes. She set a Dutch record of 5:38.37 minutes for the 2000 metres distance.[9] She won the 3000m gold medal in the First League of the 2013 European Team Championships and ran a best of 8:39.65 minutes for the distance when placing fourth at the Rieti Meeting (which ranked her first among Europeans for the distance that year).[10] A run of 15:04.36 minutes at the Bislett Games made her the top European that season and she went on to finish eighth in the final of that event at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics – Europe's best performer.[11]
At the start of 2014 she set an early world-leading time of 4:07.21 minutes for the 1500m while winning at the Perth Track Classic. She won her first national title later that year at that distance. She was selected to run the 5000m at the 2014 European Athletics Championships and came third behind compatriot Sifan Hassan and Meraf Bahta (both African-born).[4] Her first global medal came at the end of the track season at the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup, where she represented Europe and was 3000m bronze medallist behind Genzebe Dibaba and Meraf.[12]
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