Elis Ligtlee

Elis Ligtlee
	Elis Ligtlee, European Sprint Champion 2015
To person
Date of birth	June 28, 1994
nation	Netherlands
discipline	Track cycling
Driver type	Sprinter
End of career	2018
Most important successes
	Olympic Summer Games 2016 - Keirin UEC European Rail Championships 2015 : - Sprint, Keirin, - Time trial, - Team sprint 2014 : - time trial, - team sprint 2013 : - Keirin, - Sprint
	Last updated: February 16, 2018

Elis Ligtlee (born June 28, 1994 in Deventer ) is a former Dutch track cyclist who specialized in short-term disciplines. In 2016 she became an Olympic champion in the Keirin .

Athletic career

In 2011, Elis Ligtlee became a three-time Dutch junior champion, in the keirin , in the sprint and in the 500-meter time trial . She achieved her first international success at the Junior European Track Championships when she won bronze in the time trial. The following year, she won at the Track World Junior Championships second place in the time trial at the European Junior Championships, she was second in each keirin and time trial. In 2013 she was first together with Shanne Braspennincx European Champion (U23) in the team sprint and time trial. Later in the year she won in Omnisport Apeldoorn the European title of the elite in the Keirin. She finished second in the sprint and fourth in the team sprint together with Braspennincx. In 2014 Ligtlee was able to defend her European Keirin title and was also on the podium in the sprint and team sprint.

At the UEC European Rail Championships in 2015 in Grenchen , the tall Elis Ligtlee (1.92 meters) was the most successful athlete with four medals: She won gold twice - in the sprint and in the keirin -, once silver over 500 meters and bronze in the team sprint, together with Laurine van Riessen . By 2015, Elis Ligtlee had won nine national championship titles in various track cycling disciplines.

In January 2016, Elis Ligtlee started in the women's keirin competition at the six days in Rotterdam . She collided with the British Victoria Williamson , who broke her pelvis and several vertebrae in the following fall, as well as sustained deep cuts; Ligtlee suffered a concussion and a broken cheekbone. The race was then canceled. Original fears that Williamson might be paralyzed were not confirmed.

In the same year Ligtlee was nominated for participation in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro . She won the gold medal in the Keirin, fourth in the sprint and fifth in the team sprint together with Laurine van Riessen. At the UCI World Track Championships in Apeldoorn in 2018 , she won bronze in the time trial. Because of a kidney infection , she had to cancel her participation in the European Railway Championships in August 2018 .

In December 2018, Elis Ligtlee announced her retirement from active cycling: she was lacking motivation. In the course of her cycling career, she won a total of one Olympic gold medal, four World Championship medals, one World Cup victory, 28 European Championship medals and 15 medals at national championships.

Miscellaneous

In 2015, Elis Ligtlee was honored as the best Dutch young athlete in cycling with the Gerrie Knetemann Trofee , as the first woman since 1961, the year in which the award was first given.

Her brother is the track cyclist Sam Ligtlee .