Irvette van Zyl
Irvette van Zyl (van Blerk) during the 2012 Olympic Games | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Irvette van Blerk |
| Born | 5 July 1987 |
| Height | 1.69 m (5 ft 6+1⁄2 in) |
| Weight | 54 kg (119 lb) |
| Spouse | L. J. van Zyl |
| Sport | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event | Marathon |
Irvette van Zyl (née van Blerk, born 5 July 1987) is a South African long-distance runner and women's 50 km ultramarathon world record holder. She competed in the marathon at the 2012 Summer Olympics but did not finish the race. She has twice participated in the London Marathon and set her previous best time of 2:31:26 hours there in 2013. In 2021 she improved this time by almost 3 minutes to 2:28:40 at the Xiamen Marathon in Siena, Italy and again in 2022 by more than 2 minutes to 2:26:11 at the Valencia Marathon in Spain.
She began running from a young age, winning the Zevenheuvelenloop at age fifteen and running as a junior for South Africa three times at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. She represented her country at the 2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. In 2012, she married South African hurdler L. J. van Zyl.