Ilona Masson
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 31 August 2001 |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
Event | Triple jump |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best | Triple jump: 14.52 m (2026) |
Ilona Masson (born 31 August 2001) is a Belgian triple jumper. A former national under-23 record holder, she is a multiple-time senior national champion, winning titles indoors and outdoors.[1]
Biography
Masson won the senior Belgian Indoor Athletics Championships in February 2022, winning the triple jump in Louvain-La-Neuve with a jump of 12.91 metres.[2]
Masson won the senior Belgian Athletics Championships in 2023, winning the triple jump in Brugge with a jump of 13.40 metres.[3] That summer, Masson broke the Belgian under-23 record for the fourth time in two months when she jumped 13.69m at the Belgian U23 Championships.[4] The following year proved to be full of setbacks and a struggle with allergies, an ankle injury in competition, and months out with back problems.[5]
Masson won the Belgian Indoor Athletics Championships in February 2025, winning the triple jump in Ghent with a jump of 13.75 metres.[6] This improved her personal best coming into the year by 1 cm.[5]
In June 2025, she jumped over 14 metres for the first time; initially at a meeting in Athens, Greece, without a legal wind measurement (14.31 metres,[5] before completing a new personal best jump of 14.06 metres whilst competing in Geneva, Switzerland.[7] It was the sixth time she had improved her personal best that year.[5] She represented Belgium at the 2025 European Athletics Team Championships Second Division in Maribor, Slovenia, placing fifth with a jump of 13.96 metres.[8]
Masson was selected for the Belgian team for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, for her senior major championships debut, having qualified via her world ranking.[9][10] She jumped 13.79 metres at the championships, without advancing to the final.[11]
In July 2026, at the Meeting National de Thonon-Les-Bains in France, Masson jumped a huge personal best of 14.52 metres.[12] A month later, she jumped 13.77 metres to win the 2026 Belgian Indoor Championships.[13] In August, she placed fourth at the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, England, with her best jump of 14.37m three centimetres from the medal positions.[14]
Personal life
She is from Hannut in the province of Liège, Belgium.[5] She is the daughter of two athletes, former Belgian national champion 400 metres Frédéric Masson and former Belgian 100 meter hurdles runner Carine Boux.[15] She holds a Master's degree in physiotherapy from the Haute École de la Province de Liège.[16]
References
- ↑ "Ilona Masson". World Athletics. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
- ↑ "Belgian Indoor Championships". World Athletics. 26 Feb 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
- ↑ "Belgian Championships". World Athletics. 29 July 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
- ↑ "BELGIAN CHAMPIONSHIP PROMISES AND JUNIORS: ANOTHER PROMISING TRIPLE JUMP RECORD FOR ILONA MASSON". Atletiek.be. 11 September 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Reyntjens, Michiel (June 26, 2025). "Ilona Masson, on doctor's advice to stop after World Cup qualifying? "Always keep believing in myself."". atni.be. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
- ↑ "Belgian Indoor Championships". World Athletics. 23 Feb 2025. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
- ↑ De Bock, Jolien (June 21, 2025). "This time Ilona Masson jumps past 14m with a valid tailwind, Nel Vanopstal impresses with an enormous PR on 800m". atni.be. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
- ↑ "European Athletics Team Championships Second Division". World Athletics. 29 June 2025. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
- ↑ "Belgian Athletics maakt volledige selectie WK Tokio bekend: Anne Zagré mee met Rockets". atni.be. 29 August 2025. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
- ↑ "Final World Ranking earns Belgium seven extra places for World Championships". Belganewsagency. 27 August 2025. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
- ↑ "World Athletics Championships, Tokyo 2025". World Athletics. 18 Sep 2025. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
- ↑ "Le record de Belgique du triple saut féminin a tremblé : Ilona Masson retombe à 14,52 m au meeting de Thonon-les-Bains !" [The Belgian women's triple jump record was under threat: Ilona Masson landed a jump of 14.52m at the Thonon-les-Bains meet!] (in French). L'Avenir. 5 July 2026. Retrieved 10 August 2026.
- ↑ "Belgian Indoor Championships". World Athletics. 1 March 2026. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
- ↑ "MOSER DEFENDS EUROPEAN POLE VAULT CROWN IN STYLE AS DERKACH SURPRISES IN TRIPLE JUMP". Athletics Weekly. 13 August 2026. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
- ↑ "Van haar dokter moest ze stoppen, nu is hinkstapspringster Ilona Masson wereldtop: "Jezelf in de lucht katapulteren, dat is een zalig gevoel"" [Her doctor told her to quit, but now triple jumper Ilona Masson is a world-class athlete: “Catapulting yourself through the air—that’s a blissful feeling.”] (in Dutch). De Standaard. 9 August 2026. Retrieved 10 August 2026.
- ↑ "Ilona Masson, vice-championne de Belgique en triple saut" [Ilona Masson, Belgian triple jump runner-up]. www.brabantwallon.be (in French). Retrieved 10 August 2026.