Cheickna Traore

Cheickna Traore (born 21 October 2000) is an Ivorian sprinter. In 2024, he became the Ivorian national record holder over 200 metres.

Early life
He was born in the Ivory Coast but moved to the United States when he was five years old. From 2015 he attended Innovation High School and Henry Snyder High School in Jersey City, New Jersey. He then attended Ramapo College in Mahwah, New Jersey before transferring to Penn State University.

Career
Running for Ramapo College, Traore set two NCAA Division III records in the 200m and ran the third-fastest 100m in division history. In his first indoor season at Penn State in 2024, he won Big Ten titles in the 60m, 200m and 4x400 and had a second-place finish in the 200m at the NCAA Indoor Championships with an indoor career best of 20.30.

He won gold in the 200 metres running for the Ivory Coast at the 2023 Francophone Games in Kinsasha in August 2023. At the same championship he also won gold as part of a victorious Ivorian 4x100m relay team.

He set a new Penn State school record in the 200m outdoors with a time of 20.17 on 22 May 2024 in Lexington. The following day, Traore ran a 19.93 (2024 Paris Olympic standard time) for the 200 metres, setting a new Ivorian national record. On 7 June 2024, he won the 2024 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, running the 200 metres in 19.95 seconds.