Pieter-Jan Hannes first took part in national championships over 1500 meters in 2009. In July he competed at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Tampere, Finland, over 3000 meters, where he finished fourth in 8: 43.28 minutes. By 2011 he improved his time over 1500 meters by more than eight seconds to 3: 45.85 minutes. Over this distance he started in July at the U20 European Championships in Tallinn, where he finished eleventh in the final. In 2012 he improved his time again by more than five seconds.
In 2013 Hannes first competed at the U23 European Championships in Tampere, where he won the gold medal in 3: 43.81 minutes. He then qualified for the World Championships in Moscow in August. There he was eliminated as tenth of his prelim and finished 25th overall. In December he started in the U23 age group at the European Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, where he was victorious over the eight kilometers. For 2014 he expected a medal chances at the European Championships in Zurich, but these did not materialize. As ninth in his prelim, he just missed the finals due to the significantly faster prelude. Before that, in July he set his best time of 3: 34.49 minutes, which was a Belgian U23 record. In February 2015 Hannes set a Belgian indoor record in 3: 37.30 minutes. Then he started over 3000 meters at the European Indoor Championships in Prague. After the preliminary run, in which the best time was running, he ended up in twelfth place in the final. In August he reached the semi-finals at the World Championships in Beijing and finished in 20th place. In 2016 he represented Belgium at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where he also reached the semi-finals. In 3: 43.71 min he finished the competition in 21st place. In the following years he could not build on his best performances.
Belgium
Tampere
Tallinn
Moscow
Belgrade
Zurich
Prague
Beijing
Rio de Janeiro
