Taky Marie-Divine Kouamé first made her mark in track cycling over the 500-metre individual time trial. She won the Junior world title in 2019 and the Elite title in 2022. The latter victory came at France’s national velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, with her family among the crowd. Those results show her ability to launch a fast ride, but the next major challenge required more than a powerful start. A change to the event itself asked her to sustain that speed for twice the distance.
When the women’s track time trial moved from 500 metres to one kilometre in 2025, Kouamé had to rethink her approach. At the French national championships she completed the kilometre in 1 minute 8.399 seconds and briefly held the world record. The longer event changes the effort: pace gained in the opening laps must still be carried through the second half. In a UCI interview, she also described adjusting her position on the bicycle. Her established strengths became the starting point for a new technical and physical learning process, rather than a guarantee of an easy transition.
Her route into the velodrome was not direct. As a youngster she tried football, basketball, athletics and swimming, then moved from road cycling to track on a coach’s advice that her power would suit it. She represented France in keirin and sprint at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. There is also a personal dimension to her story: becoming a world champion did not remove the need to prove herself again over a changed distance. For a short-event specialist, the kilometre brings a demanding combination of explosive acceleration and a pace that must last.