She announced at the beginning of October that she had decided to go to the United States to “get a change of scenery” and “find new motivation”. All that was missing was the destination she was going to take. This Thursday evening, on her social networks, Cynthia Bolingo, after a moving message of thanks for Carole Bam, the trainer with whom she had worked since the end of 2012, announced that she was putting an end to their collaboration – but not to their unwavering friendship – and that she was going to join coach Gary Evans’ Empire Athletics group, based in Clermont, Florida, to continue her career. A decision taken after a long reflection after a very complicated season on an individual level.
Aged 31, the Belgian record holder in the 400 m (49.96), 5th at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest but also vice-European indoor champion in 2019, was unable to give the full measure of her talent during the Paris Olympics after running all summer following his form of the previous year due to preparation disrupted by a calf injury. Wishing to change environment both to start on new bases and to break a certain monotony thanks to a cutting-edge training group, she decided to take the plunge and try to relaunch herself in the United States.
Gary Evans is the current coach of Bahamian Steven Gardiner, 2019 world and 2021 Olympic champion in the 400m. He also had under his command the Briton Matthew Hudson-Smith, the European record holder in the 400m, the Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo, double Olympic champion 2016 and 2021 in the 400m, and the Puerto Rican Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Olympic champion 2021 over 100m hurdles.
Belgium
