Léna Kandissounon (born 26 November 1998) is a French track and field athlete. In 2021 she became French national champion over 400m indoor.

Early life

Born in Brest, with Franco-Beninese heritage, Kandissounon grew up in

Aulnay-sous-Bois Aulnay-sous-Bois () is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department in the Île-de-France region in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre zero. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Aulnaysiens'' o ...

in the suburbs of Paris.

Career

Coached by Marc Reuzé, at the Haute Bretagne Athlé, in

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

, Kandissounon splits her time between Paris and Brittany. She won the French national under-23 indoor title over

800m The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

, in 2020, in Saint-Brieuc. The following year she won the indoor national senior title. Kandissounon reached the semi-final at the

European Indoor Championships The European Indoor Championships was a men's tennis tournament played in Berlin, Germany. The event was played as part of the ATP Tour in 1990 and 1991. It was played on indoor carpet courts. Finals Singles Doubles See also * Berlin Open ...

in Istanbul, in March 2023. In June 2023 she set a new personal best and ran sub-two minutes for the 800m for the first time, achieving 1:59.65 at the 2023 Paris

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

event. She ran to fourth place in the final of the final of the 800 metres at the

2024 European Athletics Championships The 26th European Athletics Championships will be held from 7 to 12 June 2024 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. It will be the third time Italy has staged this sporting the event after the inaugural 1934 edition in Turin, for men only, and t ...

in Rome in June 2024, running 1:59.81. In July 2024, she was officially selected for the

2024 Paris Olympics ) , nations = TBA , athletes = 10,500 ''(quota limit)'' , events = 329 in 32 sports (48 disciplines) , opening = 26 July 2024 , closing = 11 August 2024 , opened_by = , stadium = Stade de France Jardins du Trocadéro and River Seine , summe ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kandissounon, Lena 1998 births Living people Sportspeople from Brest, France Black French sportspeople French sportspeople of Beninese descent European Games competitors for France Athletes (track and field) at the 2023 European Games