Cyréna Samba-Mayela (born 31 October 2000) is a French athlete who competes in the 60 metres hurdles and 100 metres hurdles. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, Samba-Mayela won the silver medal in the 100 m hurdles event having won 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. She also won the gold medal in the 60 m hurdles at the 2022 World Indoor Championships, and the silver medal at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships where she lowered the current French national record to 7.73 seconds.
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.
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Biography
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.
In 2017, she was the World U18 Championship 100 m hurdles silver medallist in Nairobi.
2020–2022: World Indoor Champion
She was crowned French senior champion in the 60 m hurdles indoors in 2020 in Liévin. 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. Shortly prior to this, she had claimed victories over quality international line-ups in Chorzów and Marseille.
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. Unfortunately, an injury during the warm-up pre-race prevented her Olympic debut.
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.
2023-present: Olympic silver medalist, European Champion
In August 2023, she competed at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest and qualified for the semi-finals. She was a silver medalist at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow in the 60 metres hurdles, running a national record 7.73 seconds in the semi-final and 7.74 seconds in the final.
In April 2024, she ran a personal best and national record time of 12.55 at the 2024 Xiamen Diamond League. She ran 12.52 to win the 2024 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon on 25 May 2024. In June, she won the 100 m hurdles at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome, breaking the championship record and setting a personal best time of 12.31 seconds. She won the silver medal in the 100 m hurdles at the 2024 Paris Olympics in August, running 12.34 seconds in the final to finish runner-up to Masai Russell of the United States.
In September 2024, it was announced that she had signed up for the inaugural season of the Michael Johnson founded Grand Slam Track. However, her 2025 season was debilitated by injuries, and she missed the 2025 World Championships and the 2026 World Indoor Championships. After returning to action, she placed second over 100 m hurdles at the Addis Ababa Grand Prix, the first World Athletics Continental Tour meeting to be held in Ethiopia, on 18 April 2026. On 6 June, and ran 12.65 seconds for the 100 metres hurdles, her fastest time since September 2024, at the USATF Lone Star Grand Prix in College Station, Texas.
In September 2026, Samba-Mayela was issued with a provisional suspension by the Athletics Integrity Unit pending further investigation for "whereabouts failures" relating to anti-doping rules.
Achievements
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.