The Van Daalen family business is throwing discus and shot put.
For siblings Alida and Jarno Van Daalen, it seemed natural to follow in the footsteps of their mother, Olympian and 11-time Dutch national champion Jacqueline Goormachtigh.
Goormachtigh, the owner and head coach of Topflight Throwing Academy in Rotterdam, Netherlands, initially felt reluctant to take on her daughter as an athlete when Alida turned 11, which is around the age at which European athletes typically choose an event to specialize in. Her hesitance was due in part to feeling Alida was too young to train with her group, but also the fear that people would think she was forcing her daughter into the sport.
“I needed to beg her to be my coach,” Alida Van Daalen said. “She did not want to coach me because she knew that people would be saying, ‘Oh, she forced her daughter to be a thrower.’ And she was like, ‘I don't want none of that, she needs to do another sport.’”
Eventually, Goormachtigh gave in. Under her mother’s tutelage, Alida Van Daalen quickly began making waves in the European youth (under-18) and junior (under-20) scenes.
In 2019, a year in which she swept the Dutch youth titles and won the European junior discus championship at only 17 years old, she caught the attention of Eric Werskey, who was then the throws coach at the University of Iowa. Unfortunately for Werskey, who took the post of throws coach at UF in the summer of 2021, the interest was not reciprocated.
“It was a solid three-and-a-half year stint where it was like, ‘No thanks, no thanks, no thanks,’” he said. “I was sending direct messages on Instagram, and she wasn’t ready then, but a few years later and in a better situation, she was ready at that point.”
Werksey’s persistence proved effective Fall 2022. After a series of phone calls with Alida Van Daalen and her mother, he convinced her to commit to Florida.
Following a sibling’s footsteps
While Alida Van Daalen was putting together a historic first two years as a Gator in 2023 and 2024, Jarno Van Daalen, who is four years younger, was starting to come into his own back home.
The restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic meant Goormachtigh’s athletes had to come to the family’s home for training sessions. Jarno’s experience seeing these practices up close and personal ignited a spark in him that eventually led to his full-time commitment to throwing.
“I always saw the athletes of hers train,” Jarno Van Daalen said. “So then I was intrigued to also want to come train with her more.”
Jarno Van Daalen’s first few years of dedicated training paid off after an international breakout in 2024, culminating with a victory at the World Junior Championships in the shot put in Lima, Peru.
“I cannot describe it, it was the most beautiful thing I ever had [seen] on a track,” Goormachtigh said of coaching her son to the ultimate glory a junior athlete can achieve. “The rest of his life, he can say he was [a] world champion for under-20.”
Not only did the younger Van Daalen win gold medal in the shot put, but he also secured a silver medal in the discus four days later, despite battling food poisoning.
The two siblings have continued to share an unbreakable bond, inside the throwing circle and out. Goormachtigh called them “twins” and referred to the elder sister as Jarno Van Daalen’s “second trainer.” In October, he decided to join the Gators’ 2025 recruitment class, meaning he’ll join Alida Van Daalen in Gainesville this coming Fall.
“I told him he can come here if he wants to, but it’s his choice,” Alida Van Daalen said. “I told him, ‘If you don’t want to come here, that’s fine. You just need to grow and be happy as an athlete and be proud of whoever you represent.’ But he was like, ‘No, I want to be with you.’”
While the pair won’t be training and competing together this season, Jarno Van Daalen knows when they reunite in Gainesville, they’ll both rise to the occasion.
“Especially now since our bond is stronger, it’s just really fun to train with her and we can push each other really well,” he said. “I can learn a lot from her, but she can also learn a lot from me. We can really get each other to the next level.”
From Werksey’s perspective, Jarno Van Daalen is a throws coach’s dream. He holds impressive accolades and physical tools (standing at 6-foot-7 inches tall, 250 pounds, with a 40-inch vertical jump), but it’s his work ethic and tenacity that separates him from the field.
“He’s just a down-to-earth guy that likes to pull up his sleeves and work hard too, and that’s what we’re about,” he said. “He keeps it simple but works his tail off and wants to be great.”
A classic sibling rivalry
But while Alida and Jarno Van Daalen get along exceedingly well and complement each other inside the training facility, their relationship isn’t completely free from a healthy sibling rivalry.
Given the typical marks for female shot putters, it’s unlikely that Alida Van Daalen will be able to overtake her brother’s 20.76-meter shot put personal best before he has the chance to improve that mark even more. However, she still holds the family record in the discus, with a personal best of 66.31 meters to Jarno Van Daalen’s 62.22.
“He can have shot, but discus is mine,” she said. “I think he can throw a 65 [meter throw] for sure, I’m just going to be farther. It needs to be like a 3 meter difference for now.”
The long-term goal for the Van Daalens is to represent the Netherlands together at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, with Jarno Van Daalen pitching the idea of them being joint flag bearers for the Dutch at the opening or closing ceremony. With those goals still three-and-a-half years away from coming to fruition, they both have more immediate aims for 2025.
Jarno Van Daalen hopes to surpass the Dutch junior records in the shot put and discus, which sit at 21.81 meters and 68.76 meters, respectively. In August, he’ll compete at the European Junior Championships, looking to match his sister’s 2019 discus title and add another shot put gold medal to his resume.
Alida Van Daalen, who has yet to open her 2025 season, has her sights set on strong performances at the upcoming World Championships in Tokyo this September. But before she once again dons the orange and blue of the Netherlands, she has one thing on her mind for her junior campaign in the orange and blue of the Gators.
“This season in the NCAA, I’m just ready to dominate,” she said. “When the time comes, you will see that I’m ready.”
Contact Paul Hof-Mahoney at paulhofmahoney@ufl.edu. Follow him on X at @phofmahoney
Paul is a junior sports journalism major who is covering the track and field beat in his first semester with the Alligator. In his free time, he enjoys watching commentary Youtube channels and consuming every medium of track and field content imaginable.
