[4] She attended primary school in Verviers where she tried her hand at gymnastics, swimming, karate and dance before turning to judo and joining amateur club J.C. Andrimont in Dison at the age of 6.

[7] Willems attended Athénée royal Thil Lorrain in Verviers where she obtained in 2015 her CESS (Certificat d'enseignement secondaire supérieur).

[12] Willems first rose to international prominence winning a bronze medal at the 2017 World Judo Juniors Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.

[21] But then, more injuries: first, Willems had to undergo Latarjet surgery to treat recurrent shoulder dislocations and then, upon her return to competition in the 2023 Judo World Masters in September, in warm-up, she suffered another cruciate ligament tear in the same right knee she injured before.

Needing to finish at least 5th at the 2024 World Judo Championships in order to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics, she managed to do just that and booked her ticket for Paris.