Anouk Vetter at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (© Getty Images)
Dutch heptathlete Anouk Vetter has announced her retirement, following a career that featured four global medals and a European title.
“The word is out: I'm ending my elite sports career,” the 32-year-old wrote on social media. “For over 10 years, I competed with complete dedication at the highest level. There were lows, but so many more highs!
“I was so fortunate to have a great team around me, along with a fantastic coach and wonderful training partners. It was a wonderful adventure. I enjoyed it, learned a lot, and am grateful for everything this journey has brought me.”
The first of Vetter’s major medals was won on home soil, when she clinched the heptathlon crown at the 2016 European Championships in Amsterdam.
Three world medals and one Olympic medal followed as she claimed world bronze in London in 2017, world silver in Oregon in 2022, Olympic silver in Tokyo in 2021 and another world bronze in Budapest in 2023.
The Dutch record of 6867 points she set when finishing runner-up to Nafissatou Thiam in Oregon places her 13th on the world heptathlon all-time list.
Thiam was among those to pay tribute to Vetter. “It won’t be the same without you Anouk,” she wrote on Instagram. “It was a privilege to compete and get to know you all these years! Congratulations for a wonderful career and all the best for the even more amazing things coming ahead.”
Vetter last contested a heptathlon at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where she was unable to finish due to a hamstring injury, and she has focused on the javelin in 2025, winning the national title in August. Her PB in the event of 59.81m set as part of her winning campaign at the 2022 Hypo Meeting in Götzis was the best ever throw within a 6000-point heptathlon.
