Léa Bayekula Breaks Her Own 200 m World Record
Belgian para-athlete Léa Bayekula has improved her own world record in the 200 metres wheelchair race.
At the athletics meeting in Oordegem, in the province of East Flanders, the 31-year-old Brussels native clocked a time of 26.96 seconds, erasing her previous world record of 27.18 seconds, which she had set on May 31, 2025, in Arbon, Switzerland.
Born with spina bifida, a condition resulting in incomplete development of the spine, Léa Bayekula only began walking at the age of six. She discovered athletics at 16 during a talent identification test organised by the French-speaking handisport league and initially played wheelchair basketball for three years. Two years later, after witnessing a demonstration by Marieke Vervoort, she switched to athletics and specialised in sprint events.
A world and Paralympic champion in the 400 metres and world champion in the 800 metres, Léa Bayekula also holds the European record in the 400 metres with a time of 50.50 seconds, just four hundredths of a second shy of the world record held by American Tatyana McFadden.
Congratulations to this inspiring Belgian athlete, who declares: “Inspiring others is my greatest victory!”