Cyréna Samba-Mayela

Cyréna Samba-Mayela
	Samba-Mayela in 2022
Personal information
Birth name	Cyréna Samba-Mayela
Born	31 October 2000 (age 24); Champigny-sur-Marne, France
Sport
Country	France
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	60 m hurdles; 100 m hurdles
Coached by	Teddy Tamgho (2019–)
Achievements and titles
Personal bests	100 m hurdles: 12.31 NR (2024); 100 m: 11.73 (2017); Indoors; 60 m hurdles: 7.73i NR (2024); 60 m: 7.30i (2020);
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing France
Olympic Games
World Indoor Championships
European Championships
European U23 Championships
World U18 Championships
European U18 Championships

Cyréna Samba-Mayela (born 31 October 2000)^[1] is a French athlete who competes in the 60 metres hurdles and 100 metres hurdles. She won the gold medal in the 60 m hurdles at the 2022 World Indoor Championships, a silver medal at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships where she lowered the current French national record to 7.73 seconds,^[2] and the gold medal at the 2024 European Athletics Championships, where she established a new personal best, national record and championship record at 12.31 seconds. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, Samba-Mayela won a silver medal in the 100 m hurdles event.

Samba-Mayela holds European under-18 bests in the 60 m and 100 m hurdles (76.2 cm). She won silver medals for the 100 m hurdles at the 2017 World U18 Championships and 2021 European U23 Championships.

Career

Junior career

Samba-Mayela won the gold medal in the medley relay at the 2016 European Youth Athletics Championships, running the 100 metres leg in Tbilisi.^[3]

In 2017, she was the World U18 Championship 100 m hurdles silver medallist in Nairobi.^[4]

2020–present

She was crowned French senior champion in the 60 m hurdles indoors in 2020 in Liévin.^[5] On 12 September that year, she won the French outdoor championship at the Stadium Municipal, Albi, running the 100 m hurdles in a time of 12.73, the fastest ever time by a European teenager, and the eighth-fastest French woman ever. In 2020 it was the fourth-fastest time by a woman in the world.^[6] Shortly prior to this, she had claimed victories over quality international line-ups in Chorzów and Marseille.^[7]

In Madrid, on June 19, 2021, Samba-Mayela took victory in 12.80 seconds in the 100 m hurdles to meet the Olympic minimum standard for the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics.^[8]^[9] Unfortunately, an injury during the warm-up pre-race prevented her Olympic debut.^[10]

In 2022, she won the gold medal for the 60 m hurdles at the World Indoor Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia, setting a French national record of 7.78 seconds. Devynne Charlton took silver in 7.81 s while the third-placed Gabbi Cunningham clocked 7.87 s.^[2]

In August 2023, she competed at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest and qualified for the semi-finals.^[11]

She was a silver medalist at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow in the 60 metres hurdles.^[12]

In April 2024, she ran a personal best and national record time of 12.55 at the 2024 Xiamen Diamond League.^[13] She ran 12.52 to win the 2024 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon on 25 May 2024.^[14]

She won the 100m hurdles at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome, breaking the championship record and setting a personal best time of 12.31 seconds.^[15]

She won the silver medal in the 100m hurdles at the 2024 Paris Olympics.^[16]

In September 2024, it was announced that she had signed up for the inaugural season of the Michael Johnson founded Grand Slam Track.^[17]

Achievements

International competitions

Representing France
Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Time
2016	European U18 Championships	Tbilisi, Georgia	1st	Medley relay	2:08.48 PB
2017	World U18 Championships	Nairobi, Kenya	2nd	100 m hurdles	12.80
2018	World U20 Championships	Tampere, Finland	8th	100 m hurdles	14.11
2021	European U23 Championships	Tallinn, Estonia	2nd	100 m hurdles	12.80
2022	World Indoor Championships	Belgrade, Serbia	1st	60 m hurdles	7.78 NR
	World Championships	Eugene, United States	28th (h)	100 m hurdles	13.15
	European Championships	Munich, Germany	7th	100 m hurdles	13.05
2023	European Indoor Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	8th (sf)	60 m hurdles	8.00
2023	World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	17th (sf)	100 m hurdles	12.95
2024	World Indoor Championships	Glasgow, United Kingdom	2nd	60 m hurdles	7.74
	European Championships	Rome, Italy	1st	100 m hurdles	12.31 CR
	Olympic Games	Paris, France	2nd	100 m hurdles	12.34

National titles

French Athletics Championships
- 100 m hurdles: 2020, 2021
French Indoor Athletics Championships
- 60 m hurdles: 2020

Personal life

Samba-Mayela was born in Champigny-sur-Marne, in the Île-de-France region. She is of Congolese descent.^[18]

References

^ "Cyréna SAMBA-MAYELA | Profile". worldathletics.org.
^ ^a ^b Dennehy, Cathal (28 March 2022). "From Olympic heartbreak to world indoor delight for Samba-Mayela". World Athletics. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
^ "ATHLE.FR | Championnats d'Europe cadets : Deux nouvelles médailles d'or pour les Bleuets !". www.athle.fr (in French).
^ "Mondiaux cadets : Orban en or, Samba-Mayela en argent, Mouillac en bronze". Track and Life (in French). 16 July 2017. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
^ "Cyrena Samba-Mayela, championne de France indoor sur 60m haies : " J'ai essayé de ne pas trop prendre de risques "". L'Équipe (in French).
^ "100 Metres Hurdles - women - senior - outdoor - 2020". www.worldathletics.org.
^ "Samba-Mayela and Belocian impress at French Championships, Jaeger breaks world U18 heptathlon best | REPORTS | World Athletics". worldathletics.org.
^ "Lavin set for Tokyo after Madrid run". BBC Sport. 19 June 2021.
^ "Cyrena Samba-Mayela (100m haies), Rouguy Diallo et Jean-Marc Pontvianne (triple saut) décrochent les minima olympiques à Madrid". L'Équipe (in French).
^ "Tokyo 2020 Men's 100m Results - Olympic athletics". Olympics.com.
^ "Women's 100m Hurdles Results: World Athletics Championships 2023". World Athletics. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
^ "Women's 60m hurdles Results - World Athletics Indoor Championships 2024". Watch Athletics. 3 March 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
^ Jacks, Bradley (20 April 2024). "Paulino opens season with 50.08 to win 400m in Xiamen; Charlton narrowly beaten by Camacho-Quinn in 100m hurdles". Sportsmax.tv. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
^ Henderson, Jason (26 May 2024). "Josh Kerr defeats Ingebrigtsen in a British mile record in Eugene". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
^ "World-leading championship records for Tentoglou and Samba-Mayela at European Championships in Rome". World Athletics. 8 June 2024. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
^ "Women's 100m Hurdles Results - Paris Olympic Games 2024 Athletics". Watch Athletics. 10 August 2024. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
^ "Entire Olympic 100m hurdles podium signs for Grand Slam Track". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
^ "Championnats d'Europe en salle : les athlètes ultramarins et afro-français de la sélection française".

External links

Cyréna Samba-Mayela at World Athletics
Cyréna Samba-Mayela at the French Athletics Federation (in French)
Cyréna Samba-Mayela at Olympedia

[1] "Cyréna SAMBA-MAYELA | Profile". worldathletics.org.

[WAfeature032022-2] Dennehy, Cathal (28 March 2022). "From Olympic heartbreak to world indoor delight for Samba-Mayela". World Athletics. Retrieved 28 March 2022.

[3] "ATHLE.FR | Championnats d'Europe cadets : Deux nouvelles médailles d'or pour les Bleuets !". www.athle.fr (in French).

[4] "Mondiaux cadets : Orban en or, Samba-Mayela en argent, Mouillac en bronze". Track and Life (in French). 16 July 2017. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2021.

[5] "Cyrena Samba-Mayela, championne de France indoor sur 60m haies : " J'ai essayé de ne pas trop prendre de risques "". L'Équipe (in French).

[6] "100 Metres Hurdles - women - senior - outdoor - 2020". www.worldathletics.org.

[7] "Samba-Mayela and Belocian impress at French Championships, Jaeger breaks world U18 heptathlon best | REPORTS | World Athletics". worldathletics.org.

[8] "Lavin set for Tokyo after Madrid run". BBC Sport. 19 June 2021.

[9] "Cyrena Samba-Mayela (100m haies), Rouguy Diallo et Jean-Marc Pontvianne (triple saut) décrochent les minima olympiques à Madrid". L'Équipe (in French).

[10] "Tokyo 2020 Men's 100m Results - Olympic athletics". Olympics.com.

[11] "Women's 100m Hurdles Results: World Athletics Championships 2023". World Athletics. Retrieved 23 August 2023.

[12] "Women's 60m hurdles Results - World Athletics Indoor Championships 2024". Watch Athletics. 3 March 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2024.

[13] Jacks, Bradley (20 April 2024). "Paulino opens season with 50.08 to win 400m in Xiamen; Charlton narrowly beaten by Camacho-Quinn in 100m hurdles". Sportsmax.tv. Retrieved 22 April 2024.

[14] Henderson, Jason (26 May 2024). "Josh Kerr defeats Ingebrigtsen in a British mile record in Eugene". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 26 May 2024.

[15] "World-leading championship records for Tentoglou and Samba-Mayela at European Championships in Rome". World Athletics. 8 June 2024. Retrieved 8 June 2024.

[16] "Women's 100m Hurdles Results - Paris Olympic Games 2024 Athletics". Watch Athletics. 10 August 2024. Retrieved 28 December 2024.

[17] "Entire Olympic 100m hurdles podium signs for Grand Slam Track". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 20 December 2024.

[18] "Championnats d'Europe en salle : les athlètes ultramarins et afro-français de la sélection française".

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]