Sasha Zhoya (born 25 June 2002) is a French/Australian athlete who represents France in international

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

competition, specialized in

hurdling Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

events. Born in Australia, and of French and Zimbabwean descent, he represents France internationally. He is the current holder of two world under-18 best performances (

110 m hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hurd ...

60 m hurdles 60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.68 seconds ( Susanna K ...

) and two world U20 records (

Early life and background

Sasha Zhoya was born on 25 June 2002 in Subiaco, locality of the southern suburbs of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

in Australia, from a French mother Catherine Larbiose-Zhoya and a Zimbabwean father, Yonah Zhoya, so that he has the triple nationality Franco-Australian-Zimbabwean. Raised in Australia, he began

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

at the age of 8 at Melville

Little Athletics Little Athletics is an Australian activity program that involves modified athletics events for children aged 3 to 16 in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory); 3 ...

, where his mother was a coach, and joined the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

at age 14. He is trained by Lindsay Bunn for

sprinting Sprinting is running over a short distance at the top-most speed of the body in a limited period of time. It is used in many sports that incorporate running, typically as a way of quickly reaching a target or goal, or avoiding or catching an op ...

events, and by Paul Burgess and Alex Parnov for the

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

. He started training in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 2017, at Clermont Athlétisme Auvergne, club of his mother's city of origin, where he is coached by

Philippe d'Encausse Philippe d'Encausse (; born 24 March 1967 in Clermont-Ferrand) is a retired French pole vaulter, whose father, Hervé d'Encausse, was a European record holder and 1968 Olympic finalist in pole vault. He is currently Renaud Lavillenie Renaud L ...

for the

. Holder of three passports and competing in both Australian and French youth championships, Zhoya had to decide which country he will represent in competition. In 2020, he decided to compete for France. He joined the sprint-hurdles group of the

French Athletics Federation The French Athletics Federation (french: Fédération française d'athlétisme - ''FFA''), is the governing body for the sport of athletics in France. History FFA is the heir to the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA), ...

INSEP INSEP, the National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance (Institut national du sport, de l'expertise et de la performance), is a French training institute and center for excellence in sports that trains elite athletes. It is located on th ...

, supervised by

Ladji Doucouré Ladji Doucouré (born 28 March 1983 in Juvisy-sur-Orge, department of Essonne in France) is a French track and field athlete. Biography Ladji Doucouré's father and mother was Malian and Senegalese respectively. Ladji Doucouré was a football ...

for the hurdles and Dimitri Demonière for the sprint events.

Career

Under-18

In 2018, at the French Junior Outdoor Championships in

Bondoufle Bondoufle () is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is 27 km from Paris. In 1994 the city hosted the Francophonie Games at the Stade Robert Bobin, which had been built for the occasion. Popula ...

, Zhoya won the silver medal in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

and the gold medal for the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

. In February 2019, at the French Junior Indoor Championships in

Liévin Liévin (; pcd, Lévin; ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The inhabitants are called ''Liévinois''. Overview The town of Liévin is an old mining area of Pas-de-Calais. Near Lens, this town is of modest size but ...

, he won two gold medals with two French national youth records, for

with a 5.32 m vault and for the

60 metres hurdles 60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.68 seconds ( Susanna K ...

with 7.48 seconds. It was his first competitive outing at the hurdles distance and equalled the youth record owned by

. In April 2019, at the Australian Junior Championships, he broke the world under-18 record in

with 5.56 m, one centimetre more than the Greek Emmanouíl Karalís in 2016. In June 2019 at

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds () is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometers south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, it is the fourth largest city loc ...

, he broke the French national youth record in the 100 m with 10.41 s (+1.4 m/s). In July 2019, at the semi-final of French Junior Outdoor Championships in

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

, he broke the world under-18 record for the

110 meters hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hur ...

with a time of 12.87 s (+1.6 m/s), improving by 9 hundredths the previous record of the Jamaican

Jaheel Hyde Jaheel Hyde (born 2 February 1997) is a Jamaican track and field athlete. He was the 2014 world junior champion in the 400 metres hurdles and the 2013 world youth champion in the 110 metres hurdles. He won a gold medal in the 110 m hurdles at ...

set in 2014. He later won the final with 12.96 s. The next day, he also won the 200 m final and descended for the first time below 21 seconds, with 20.81 s but with wind assistance (+3.1 m/s). A few days later, he broke the French national youth record in the 200 m in a meeting at

Sotteville-lès-Rouen Sotteville-lès-Rouen (, literally ''Sotteville near Rouen'') is a commune and railway town in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. Geography It is the largest suburb of the city of Rouen and adjacent to it, som ...

with 20.91 s.

Under-20

In 2020, at the French Junior Indoor Championship in

Miramas Miramas (; oc, Miramàs) is a commune in France, commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône departements of France, department, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions of France, region, southern France. It is the second-largest commune in metropolita ...

, Zhoya broke the world under-20 record in the 60 m hurdles with 7.34 s in the final. In July 2021, he improved his personal best over 110 m hurdles by posting 13.02 s in the semi-final of the French junior championships in

. Zhoya then largely won the final in 13.06 s. A few days later, he won the European U20 Championships in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

in 13.05 s, his first international title. In the semi-final, he ran in 12.98 s, which was below the junior world record, but with wind assistance (+2.4 m/s). In August 2021, Zhoya won the 110 m hurdles final of the World U20 Championships in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

, Kenya while setting a new world U20 record of the distance in 12.72 s.

Under-23

For his first season with senior height hurdles (106.7 cm), Zhoya won the 110 m hurdles final of the

French Athletics Championships The French Athletics Championships (french: Championnats de France d'athlétisme) is an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Fédération française d'athlétisme (FFA; French Athletics Federation), which serves as the Frenc ...

in 13.17 s (-0.5 m/s). He therefore participated at the

2022 World Athletics Championships The 2022 World Athletics Championships was the eighteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships. It was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15–24, 2022, with the country hosting that competition for the f ...

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

, where he was eliminated in the semi-finals in 13.47 s. Zhoya also participated at the

2022 European Athletics Championships The 2022 European Athletics Championships were the 25th edition of the European Athletics Championships and were held in Munich, Germany, from 15 to 21 August 2022. They were part of the European Championships, a multi-sport tournament which brin ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, where he fell when crossing the last hurdle and finished eighth.

Statistics

Personal records

National titles

** 100 m: 2018 (U18) ** 200 m: 2019 (U18) ** 60 m hurdles (indoor): 2019 (U18), 2020 (U20) ** 110 m hurdles: 2019 (U18), 2021 (U20), 2022 ** Pole vault (indoor): 2019 (U18) *

Australian Athletics Championships The Australian Athletics Championships or Australian Open Track and Field Championships are held annually to determine Australia's champion athletes in a range of athletics events. The championships are the primary qualification trial for athlete ...

** 200 m: 2017 (U16), 2019 (U18) ** 110 m hurdles: 2017 (U17), 2019 (U18) ** Pole vault: 2017 (U17), 2019 (U20)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhoya, Sasha 2002 births Living people Athletes from Perth, Western Australia French male pole vaulters French male hurdlers French male sprinters French decathletes Australian male pole vaulters Australian male hurdlers Australian male sprinters Australian decathletes World Athletics U20 Championships winners French people of Zimbabwean descent European sportspeople of Zimbabwean descent Australian people of French descent Australian people of Zimbabwean descent Sportspeople of Zimbabwean descent