In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 29 March 1996
- Birthplace
- Laos
- Country
- Laos
- Nationality
- Lao
- Known for
- Representing Laos in the women’s 100 metres at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games
- 100 m best
- 12.31 · Lao national record
- 200 m best
- 25.37 · Lao national record
- Olympic Games
- Tokyo 2020 · Paris 2024
- Tokyo role
- Opening-ceremony flag bearer
Why this life matters
Silina Pha Aphay gives Lao women’s athletics a consistent presence at Southeast Asian, Asian, world and Olympic competition.
Timeline
Key moments
Born in Laos
Born on 29 March 1996.
Raced at the Asian Games
Represented Laos in the Jakarta women’s 100 metres and recorded 12.95 seconds.
Set two national records
Ran 25.37 for 200 metres and 12.31 for 100 metres at the Southeast Asian Games.
Made her Olympic debut
Carried the Lao flag at the Tokyo opening ceremony and ran 12.41 in the 100-metre preliminary round.
Reached the World Championships
Represented Laos in the women’s 100 metres at the Budapest world championships.
Returned to the Olympics
Ran 12.45 in the Paris preliminary round in her second Olympic appearance.
Building a sprint career from a small athletics system
Silina Pha Aphay was born in Laos in 1996 and developed into the country’s leading women’s sprinter. Track athletes from smaller national programmes face a structural challenge: they need regional meets for regular competition, but international championships may be the only races staged at fully professional scale. Her career has therefore moved between Southeast Asian Games, Asian championships and the universal-entry rounds of global events.
At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, she ran 12.95 seconds in the women’s 100-metre heats. The result did not advance her to the next round, yet it placed her on the continental stage and preceded her strongest season. At the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines, Pha Aphay produced the marks that World Athletics lists as Lao national records: 25.37 seconds for 200 metres on 7 December and 12.31 for 100 metres the following day.
Tokyo, a national flag and the Olympic start line
The postponed Tokyo 2020 Games became Pha Aphay’s Olympic debut in 2021. World Athletics listed her as Laos’s opening-ceremony flag bearer, a ceremonial role that made her one of the delegation’s most visible representatives. On the track she finished sixth in her preliminary 100-metre heat in 12.41 seconds, one tenth outside her national record. The result did not qualify her for the first round, but it gave Laos a credible performance rather than a symbolic appearance alone.
She continued to compete beyond Tokyo, adding a 5.17-metre long-jump best in 2023 and representing Laos at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. That range matters in a programme with limited event depth: international athletes often also serve as anchors for national championships, relays and regional teams. Her records over both sprint distances establish a benchmark against which the next generation of Lao runners can measure development.
A second Olympics in Paris
Pha Aphay returned for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. She ran 12.45 seconds and placed sixth in her preliminary heat, closely matching her Tokyo performance across a three-year Olympic cycle. World Athletics records confirm that she was Laos’s women’s 100-metre representative at both Games. Repeating that selection required sustained training through the disruption of the pandemic and the uneven competition opportunities available to athletes from smaller federations.
Her significance is not based on an Olympic medal. It lies in continuity: two Games, a world championship appearance and national records in the two principal sprint distances. Together they provide Lao women’s athletics with a visible standard at home and a recognisable athlete abroad. Her career also broadens this archive’s sporting story beyond para-powerlifting and football, showing how individual persistence can maintain national representation in the most globally competitive Olympic event programme.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Silina Pha Aphay
- Who is Silina Pha Aphay?
- Silina Pha Aphay is an olympic sprinter and Lao national-record holder. Silina Pha Aphay gives Lao women’s athletics a consistent presence at Southeast Asian, Asian, world and Olympic competition.
- What is Silina Pha Aphay best known for?
- Silina Pha Aphay is best known for representing Laos in the women’s 100 metres at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
- When and where was Silina Pha Aphay born?
- Silina Pha Aphay was born on 29 March 1996 in Laos.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
