Norwegian Paralympic athlete
Salum Ageze Kashafali (born 25 November 1993) is a visually impaired Norwegian Paralympic athlete competing in the T12-classification of sprinting events.[1] He won the gold medal in the men's 100 metres T12 event at the 2020 Summer Paralympics held in Tokyo, Japan.[2] He also set a T12 world record of 10.43 seconds.[2][3] This makes him the fastest Paralympian in the 100m ever, regardless of disability.[4]
Salum is visually impaired as a result of Stargardt disease.[5]
Career
In 2019, he competed both in able-bodied and para-athletic competitions. In June 2019, he set a new world record of 10.45s in the 100 metres T12 event at the Bislett Games held in Oslo, Norway.[6] In August 2019, at the 2019 Norwegian Athletics Championships, he won the gold medal in the men's 100 metres with a time of 10.37s.
At the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, he won the gold medal in the men's 100 metres T12 event with a time of 10.54s. This meant that he qualified to represent Norway at the 2020 Summer Paralympics held in Tokyo, Japan.[7]
In 2021, he won the gold medal in the men's 100 metres T12 event at the 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships held in Bydgoszcz, Poland.[8]
Personal life
Salum was born in Goma, Congo on November 23, 1993. When a civil war broke out in Congo, Salum and his family fled the country and ended up in a refugee camp. The family came to Norway in 2003 and had a brief period in Vadsø before they settled in Bergen.[9]
