After making dazzling progress, Cyréna Samba-Mayela will be one of the French chances of a medal in Paris in athletics. Biography, track record, expatriation, find out who the French sprinter is.
Cyréna Samba-Mayela was born on October 31, 2000 in the Paris region in Champigny-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne). She grew up surrounded by six brothers and sisters, in a family of Congolese origin and tried her hand at several sports in her youth, such as judo, basketball, figure skating and gymnastics. It was only at the age of 15 that she took her first steps in athletics, encouraged by her parents, former athletes.
At AC Paris Joinville, it was her first coach Albertine Koutouan (African heptathlon champion in 1990 with Ivory Coast) who pushed her towards hurdles and gave her “this love of hurdles”. She showed extraordinary skills in this specialty and barely more than a year after putting on her first spikes, Cyréna Samba-Mayela took part in her first European Youth Athletics Championships. Without abandoning her other passions, such as drawing, music and painting.
After winning her first international medals in the youth category, Cyréna Samba-Mayela’s progress was slowed by recurring hamstring injuries. It was not until 2020 that she reached a milestone in her time, after being taken in charge by Teddy Tamgho in 2019. She went under 8 seconds in the 60 meters and became French champion in the 60 meters hurdles indoors and also in the 100 m hurdles outdoors. Qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, she injured herself during the warm-up and was unable to take part in her series.
Cyréna Samba-Mayela continues to progress and collect titles. But in the fall of 2023, she split from her coach Teddy Tamgho to have a new experience in the United States, in Florida, where she joined the group of Irish coach John Coghlan. A beneficial change, even if the Frenchwoman had to develop her technique a few months before the Paris Olympics. But these efforts paid off, with a European champion title won in Rome by breaking the French record for the 100 meters hurdles.
What is Cyréna Samba-Mayela’s track record?
Cyréna Samba-Mayela was the 60m hurdles world champion indoors in 2022 and was vice-world champion in the event in 2024. Outdoors, she was crowned European champion in 2024 and is a three-time French champion (2020, 2021 and 2023). Indoors, she was French champion in 2020 and vice-champion in 2021 and 2023. She is the current holder of the French record in the 60m hurdles (7″73, 2024) and the French record in the 100m hurdles (12″31, 2024).
Why did Cyréna Samba-Mayela go into exile in the United States?
After four years of collaboration with Teddy Tamgho, Cyréna Samba-Mayela made the risky choice to leave Insep in November 2023 to join the group of Irish coach John Coghlan, in Orlando (United States). She trains in particular with the reigning Olympic champion in the 100 meters hurdles, Puerto Rican Jasmine Camacho-Quinn. A real change, a few months before Paris Olympics 2024. “I’ve completely refreshed myself. This is the first time I’ve lived somewhere else. Basically, I like to stick to a fairly rigid plan,” she confided at the European Championships in Rome in June. “However, by going to see another way of doing things, another culture, by travelling, it required a lot of adaptation and also allowed me to open up a little more. All of that is also reflected in the way I run.” A beneficial change for the French hurdler. “It’s clear that the work done is impressive,” acknowledged Romain Barras, the high performance director of the French Athletics Federation. Technically, she’s not the same anymore, she attacks from further back, there’s really an impressive change that can be seen directly.”