Cynthia Bolingo

Cynthia Bolingo is a Belgian sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres, a discipline where she holds the national record. Born in Uccle, Belgium, on 12 January 1993, she has been active in athletics since 2008, when she was around 15 years old. Over 18 years of competition, she has built a career marked by steady improvement and historic firsts for Belgian sprinting.

Her breakthrough came at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships, where she won the silver medal in the 400 metres. Two years later, in June 2021, she broke the long-standing Belgian outdoor record in the event, clocking 50.75 seconds in Montreuil, France. That time bettered Kim Gevaert's 16-year-old mark of 51.45 seconds and secured Bolingo's qualification for the 2020 Olympics. She then lowered her own record to 50.29 seconds a month later. At the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, she reached the semi-final and ran 49.96 seconds, improving her record again and becoming the first Belgian woman to reach a 400 metres final at a World Championships.

Bolingo also competed in the 200 metres at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, though she did not advance past the first round. She stands 5'5" and weighs 119 lbs, with a build suited to her sprinting events. She is 33 years old and maintains a significant social media presence, with 65k followers on Instagram.