Category: News

Belgium’s Nafi Thiam was named female World Athlete of the Year at the IAAF Athletics Awards in Monaco on Friday 24 November. Nafi became the first European to claim the women’s award since Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlasic in 2010 and only the second heptathlete in award history after Jackie Joyner-Kersee in 1994. The Geography […]

Nafi Thiam took the top award at the 2016 Sportsgala held at Wild Gallery in Vorst (Brussels) on Saturday. The 22-year-old landed Olympic gold in the heptathlon in Rio in August. En route to her Olympic triumph, she set a world heptathlon best of 1.98m in the high jump, higher than the winning leap in the individual high jump […]

Olympic heptathlon gold medalist Nafi Thiam has been named the female Rising Star of the Year at the IAAF Athletics Awards 2016, held at Sporting Monte Carlo on Friday 2 December 2016. The Belgian multievent standout won gold in the heptathlon at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games with a world-leading national record of 6810. Just 21 at the time, only […]

Heptathlete Nafissatou Thiam and decathlete Thomas Van der Plaetsen were awarded the Golden Spike Award at a ceremony in Stayen, a brand new multi purpose venue exploited by STVV Sint-Truiden. The Golden Spike Award goes to the Male and Female Athlete of the Year in Belgian athletics. It is a tradition for the Belgian Athletics Federation to […]

Olympic heptathlon Champion Nafi Thiam was crowned Golden Tracks Female Rising Star of the Year by European Athletics in Funchal, Madeira. The Belgian Geography student was just sensational as she broke the national record and set the world-leading mark with 6810 to beat Britain’s defending champion Jessica Ennis-Hill by 35 points. Thiam also set five personal […]

Heptathlete Nafissatou Thiam was awarded the Golden Spike Award at a ceremony in Stayen, a brand new multi purpose venue exploited by STVV Sint-Truiden. The Golden Spike Award goes to the Male and Female Athlete of the Year in Belgian athletics. It is a tradition for the Belgian Athletics Federation to organise a poll to designate the laureates. […]

Belgian sprint/hurdler Hanne Claes led her country to 6th place in the women’s 200m final at the World University Games last Friday. Earlier that day Hanne clocked 23.94 in the semi-final to take 2nd place which automatically qualified her for the final. The 24-year-old improved in the final to a decent 23.75.      

At the EAP-Meeting in Geneva, Belgian sprint/hurdler Hanne Claes clocked a solid 23.29 season’s best in the women’s 200m to qualify for the Universiade being held in Gwangju, South-Korea in July. Her time of 23.29 is just 0.03 shy off her personal best and 0.09 above the A standard for the IAAF World Championships in Athletics […]

At the 2014 Sportsgala held at attraction park Plopsaland in De Panne, Belgium Nafissatou Thiam was named Female Athlete of the Year for 2014. Nafi was selected as winner in balloting of the professional members of sportspress, the national league of sports journalists in Belgium. Thiam had a breakthrough year in the senior ranks, highlighted […]

Heptathlete Nafissatou Thiam and decathlete Thomas Van der Plaetsen were awarded the Golden Spike Award at a ceremony in the beautiful city hall of Brussels. The Golden Spike Award goes to the Male and Female Athlete of the Year in Belgian athletics. It is a tradition for the Belgian Athletics Federation to organise a poll to designate […]

Multi-eventers Nafissatou Thiam and Thomas Van der Plaetsen have been nominated for the female and male Golden Spike Award. The Golden Spike Award goes to the Male and Female Athlete of the Year in Belgian athletics. It is a tradition for the Belgian Athletics Federation to organise a poll to designate the laureates. Thiam, still only 20, […]

At the Belgian National Championships (July 26-27) Cedric Nolf placed 2nd in the men’s long jump with a 7m81 effort, staying just 15cm shy of the A standard for Zürich 2014. Preparing for the European Athletics Championships, decathlete Thomas Van der Plaetsen clocked 14.67 in the heats of the 110m hurdles on Saturday and went […]

Fan favourite Nafi Thiam opened her 2014 indoor season in fine fashion by winning the women’s high jump competition at the Record Bank Flanders Indoor in Ghent on Sunday February 9 setting a personal best of 1m94. The 19-year-old European Junior Champion in the heptathlon who also surprised with a 1m92 performance in the high […]

In the Royal Theatre of Namur multi-event standout Nafi Thiam was named Female Sports Personality of the Year of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation for her outstanding performances in 2013. In the balloting 19-year-old Thiam finished  ahead of judoka  Anne-Sophie Jura, karateka Laura Pradelli, basketball player Kathy Wambe and hurdler Anne Zagré. The geography student is the successor of […]

As the indoor season gets underway, several WAFEL athletes are set to compete this weekend. On Saturday we will see Thomas Van der Plaetsen in the high jump at the LBFA Championships (out of competition). On Sunday he will be back in action at the Flemish Championships in the men’s long jump and 60m hurdles. The […]

Today the Wings For Life World Run was announced to the public at a press conference in Brussels, Belgium. Stefaan Bettens, the CEO of Jet Import together with Belgian Ambassadors of the event Marc Herremans and WAFEL athlete Nafi Thiam were present to introduce the unique event set to take place on May 4th in […]

Belgian decathletes Thomas Van der Plaetsen and Cedric Nolf will be opening their indoor season this weekend. 23-year-old Van der Plaetsen, who missed out on both the ‘12 and ’13 indoor season due to injury, just returned from a productive two-month training stint in South Africa and is very excited to kick-off his indoor campaign. […]

At the 2013 Sportsgala held at the AED Studios in Lint, Belgium Nafissatou Thiam was named Rising Star of the Year for 2013. Nafi was selected as winner in balloting of the professional members of sportspress, the national league of sports journalists in Belgium. Thiam had a breakthrough year, highlighted by her victory in the […]

19-year-old heptathlete Nafissatou Thiam yesterday won her 1st Golden Spike Award at a ceremony in the beautiful city hall of Brussels. The Golden Spike Award goes to the Male and Female Athlete of the Year in Belgian athletics. It is a tradition for the Belgian Athletics Federation to organise a poll to designate the laureates. After being named Belgian […]

After being shortlisted as one of the fifteen candidates for the Rising Star of the Year Award in Belgium, multi event talent Nafi Thiam is now amongst the three finalists to win the trofee. Thiam broke the  indoor world junior record in the pentathlon (not ratified), was crowned European Junior Champion in the heptathlon, setting […]

Sportspress.be today announced the names of the male and female athletes who have been shortlisted for the 2013 Belgian Sports Awards. Amongst the candidates are WAFEL athletes Nafi Thiam (heptathlon) and Thomas Van der Plaetsen (decathlon). Thiam who is in contention for the 2013 Rising Star of the Year Award broke the  indoor world junior […]

Less than four months after the opening meeting of the series, the 2013 IAAF Diamond League will reach a climax on Friday (6) in Brussels at the Belgacom Van Damme Memorial. Multi-event talent Nafi Thiam will be in action in the high jump for the occasion. With world class jumpers such as Anna Chicherova and […]

WAFEL athletes Cedric Nolf and Jan Van Den Broeck kicked off their outdoor season with the provincial championships last weekend.Middle-distance specialist Jan ran to a promising 48.75 personal best time in the 400m. On Thursday May 1st Jan will be returning to Herentals for his first 800m outing of the season.Decathlete Cedric posted 11.97 in […]

Belgian Thomas Van der Plaetsen, along with his coach Michael Van der Plaetsen, is set to join Dan Pfaff’s training group in Phoenix, AZ for an extended training camp as he prepares for the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Moscow next August.Van der Plaetsen, who spent the last few months in South Africa, will […]

WAFEL Sports Management is delighted to announce that outstanding Track & Field athlete Thomas Van der Plaetsen renewed its sponsorship agreement with sportswear manufacturer ASICS. Van der Plaetsen is a European Junior and European U23 Gold medallist in the decathlon.The multi-year agreement confirms that ASICS will continue being the sports apparel provider for Thomas until […]

As the 2013 indoor season gets underway, WAFEL athletes Damien Broothaerts and Jan Van Den Broeck will be in action this Saturday February 2nd at the Perfiction Indoor in Ghent, Belgium. 23-year-old Jan will be looking to earn his spot on the Belgian delegation for the European Athletics Indoor Championships in the men’s 800m. Following […]

WAFEL Sports Management recently joined the Belgian Caribbean Business Club, a professional networking organization whose main purpose is to help establish and improve business contacts between Belgian and Caribbean-based companies, (semi) governmental institutions and private persons doing business in the Caribbean. The club primarily consists of Belgian companies/entrepreneurs with strong business and personal ties with […]

After a well deserved break WAFEL athletes all over the world have started their preparation for the upcoming track and field season. With the London Olympics behind us we now look forward to the challenges that Rio 2016 will bring. On the four-year road to Rio our clients will be traveling to their National Championships, […]