Delphine Nkansa

Belgian athlete

Delphine Nkansa

Nkansa in 2022

Personal information

Nationality

Belgian

Born

(2001-09-21) 21 September 2001 (age 22)

Sport

Track and Field

Event(s)

100m, 200m

Medal record

Women's athletics

Representing Belgium
European U23 Championships
	2023 Espoo	200 m

Delphine Nkansa (born 21 September 2001) is a Belgian athlete. She was the Belgian national champion over 200m in 2022 and the European Under-23 champion over that same distance in 2023.^[1]

Personal life

Nkansa was born in Belgium to a DR Congolese mother and Belgian father.^[2] She grew up in Lisbon, Portugal after her family moved for her father’s work. After achieving her baccalaureate in Lisbon, Nkansa moved to Paris to study law.^[3]^[4]

Career

2022

Nkansa set a new personal best time of 23.03 seconds for the 200 metres in July 2022 in Albi, France. At the same event she improved her 100m personal best to 11.26 seconds to make her second fastest Belgian woman of all time in the event behind only Kim Gevaert. Nkansa qualified from her 200m heat at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in a time of 23.08 and was eleventh fastest in the semi-finals running 23.28. This matched her result in the 100m as she qualified from the heat to the semi-finals and also finished eleventh fastest in a time of 11.39 seconds.^[5]^[6]^[7] Nkansa was part of the Belgian 4 x 100 metres relay team that qualified for the final with a seasons best time of 43.58 in the semi-final, before finishing sixth in the final.^[8]

2023

Nkansa ran a new personal best over 60m of 7.24 seconds in January 2023. Soon afterwards she finished runner-up to Rani Rosius in the 60m at the Belgian national indoors championships in February 2023.^[9] She was subsequently selected for the 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships in March 2023, in which she qualified through the rounds for the final.^[10] She finished sixth in the final in a new personal best time of 7.19 seconds.^[11]

At the 2023 European Athletics U20 Championships in Espoo, Finland, Nkansa won the gold medal in the 200 metres.^[12] Selected for the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, she did not qualify for the semi-final of the 100 metres.^[13]

2024

She reached the semi-finals of the women's 60 metres at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.^[14]

References

^ "Delphine Nkansa championne d'Europe espoirs sur 200 m". www.rtl.be (in French).
^ Vandormael, Laura (17 April 2023). "Athlétisme : rencontre avec Delphine Nkansa, la nouvelle perle du sprint belge".
^ "Delphine Nkansa, the new smile of Belgian sprinting". rybf.be.
^ "After Portuguese game of hide-and-seek, Nkansa is a newcomer to the European Championship: "Good feeling at Belgian Rockets"". Sporza.bel.
^ "Nkansa and Vervaet, who equals his personal best, are in the semifinals of the 200 meters". rtbf.be.
^ "Athletics Euro: Delphine Nkansa and Imke Vervaet eliminated in the 200m semi-finals". Lesoir.be.
^ "The interview that gives a smile - Delphine Nkansa, radiant despite her elimination: "Disappointed at 50% ... go 60%"". rtbf.be.
^ "Day for Belgian sprinters: Falcons and Rockets to European Championship final 4x100m". newswep.com.
^ "Belgian Indoor Athletics Championships: Rosius beats Nkansa on 60m". rtl.be. 19 February 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
^ "Indoor Athletics Euro: Doom, Watrin and Ponette qualified in 400m, Laus eliminated, Rosius and Nkansa pass in 60m". rtbf.be. 3 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
^ "Rani Rosius and Delphine Nkansa fourth and sixth in European Championship finals 60 meters". Standaard.be. 3 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
^ "Delphine Nkansa crowned European U23 champion in the 200m: 'I thought it was impossible to win…'". euro.dayfr.com. 16 July 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
^ "Women's 100m Results: World Athletics Championships 2023". Watch Athletics. 21 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
^ "Women's 60m Results - World Athletics Indoor Championships 2024". Watch Athletics. 2 March 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.