Athletics Rwanda

🇷🇼A Golden Moment for Rwanda!

From the vibrant streets of Bengaluru, we proudly celebrate Florence Niyonkuru for her exceptional victory at the TCS World 10K Bengaluru.

🏆 Elite Women’s Champion
⏱ Personal Best: 30:45

With a decisive final-kilometer surge, Florence showcased resilience, tactical brilliance, and world-class excellence. This victory is not only personal—it is national pride in motion.

From Rwanda to the world, we celebrate you, Florence. The journey continues, and the future shines even brighter.

Rising to the occasion in Berlin Half Marathon 🇩🇪

Florence delivers a powerful statement, finishing 4th in a highly competitive field and clocking 1:07:22 a new 🇷🇼 Women’s National Record.

A performance of courage, discipline, and ambition. The trajectory is clear — Rwanda is rising on the global stage.

Congratulations, Florence. The best is yet to come. 💪🇷🇼

In freezing conditions, heavy wind, and a demanding course at the Egmond Half Marathon 🇳🇱, Rwanda’s rising athletes delivered once again.

🥇 NIYONKURU Florence
🥈 IMANIZABAYO Emeline

Just days after their Gold & Silver medals at the Silvesterlauf Trier 🇩🇪 on Dec 31, the consistency is clear.

This is progress. This is resilience. This is the future of Athletics Rwanda. 🇷🇼🏃‍♀️

Congratulations 🎉 Florence and Emeline

🇷🇼A remarkable moment for Team Rwanda at the Silvesterlauf Trier!

What a powerful display of determination, discipline, and excellence from our girls on the international stage. We are immensely proud of N. Florence, who claimed the Gold Medal, and I. Emeline, who secured a well-earned Silver Medal, competing shoulder to shoulder with some of the biggest names in world athletics.

These outstanding performances are more than medals, they are a strong statement of Rwanda’s growing presence in global athletics. Our athletes continue to rise with confidence, resilience, and belief, setting the pace as we look ahead to upcoming world competitions.

To Florence and Emeline: you have made the us proud and inspired a new generation of athletes back home.
Let us keep the momentum, the discipline, and the winning spirit alive.

💚🇷🇼 Forward together. Forward stronger. Team Rwanda! 🥇🥈🔥

proudly congratulates Florence for her brilliant victory at the Lyon Half Marathon in France, where she claimed 1st place , Gold Medal with a remarkable time of 1:10:00.

This triumph comes just three months after her Half Marathon victory at the Kigali International Peace Marathon, confirming her consistency and rising status on the international stage.

Despite battling strong winds and a demanding course, Florence’s resilience and determination shone through, bringing pride to Rwanda and inspiring the next generation of athletes.

RAF proudly extends its heartfelt congratulations to Claire and Emeline

At the International Flutlicht Meeting (Germany):
🥇 UWITONZE Claire (19) wins 800m in 2:00.32, a new national record.
🔥 IMANIZABAYO Emeline clocks 4:11.25 PB in 1500m, after her recent 🥉 in Brazzaville

Strengthening International Ties for Local Talent: RAF and Silvesterlauf Collaboration

Today marked a significant moment for the Rwanda Athletics Federation (RAF) as Hon. Minister of Sports Nelly together with Minister of State RWEGO Ngarambe warmly received Mr. Hans George Tilly, a globally renowned marathoner and President of Silvesterlauf Trier (Germany), who is currently in Rwanda on an official visit and also took part in the just-concluded Kigali International Peace Marathon 2025.

Mr. Tilly’s presence in Rwanda not only reaffirms a long-standing partnership between RAF and Silvesterlauf but also signals continued collaboration aimed at deepening international exposure for Rwandan athletes.

🏃‍♀️ Why This Partnership Matters

For the past nine years, RAF and Silvesterlauf have worked together to create life-changing opportunities for emerging Rwandan athletes—providing them with access to elite training programs, high-performance competition exposure, and mentorship from some of the world’s most accomplished runners.

One shining example is Florence, the 2025 KIPM Women’s Half Marathon champion, who rose through this very support system. Her success illustrates how structured international collaboration can uplift local talent and place Rwandan athletes on the global map.

📈 Technical Impact: Pathway to Global Rankings

Through this partnership:
• Athletes gain access to World Athletics-sanctioned events, crucial for earning ranking points.
• Young talents benefit from technical clinics, insights, and sports science exposure.

• RAF is able to benchmark its coaching systems and athlete development pathways against global standards.

These factors collectively improve performance metrics, ranking potential, and international competitiveness for Rwandan athletes—especially in long-distance running, where Rwanda has untapped potential.

🤝 Investing in the Next Generation

Beyond elite runners, this cooperation also focuses on youth development. Silvesterlauf’s support has helped fund grassroots programs , nurturing athletes from early ages and ensuring continuity in talent pipelines. This is where arise and Shine comes from.

🙏 Appreciation to Hon. Minister

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Hon. Minister of Sports for her warm reception of Mr. Tilly and her steadfast leadership in guiding the growth of athletics in Rwanda. Her support continues to be instrumental in forging global partnerships and creating an environment where Rwandan athletes can thrive, both at home and on the world stage.

🚨Are you ready to push your limits, conquer the streets of , and run with heart? 🔥🔥 This is your moment to shine, to sweat, and to like never before. See you at the starting line! 💪

🇷🇼 Nurturing the Future of Athletics!

Today in Gicumbi District, young learners aged 7 to 12 from GS Kageyo and Kageyo TSS came together in an exciting atmosphere filled with energy, laughter, and the true spirit of sport.

As part of the World Athletics Kids Athletics Program, this event—organized by Rwanda Athletics Federation—gave the children a chance to run, jump, and throw in a fun and structured environment that builds physical literacy, teamwork, and confidence.

These moments of joy and discovery are at the heart of our mission: to introduce athletics at an early age and to spark the dreams of future champions.

👏 A big thank you to the teachers, coaches, and community members supporting these young athletes.

📸 Stay tuned for photos and more highlights from Gicumbi!

Let’s do this course runners
Register on www.kigalimarathon.org
and See you in 13 days