Salum Kashafali: From Congo’s Chaos To World Record For Norway, Paralympic Champ Chases Olympic Glory

‘Running for survival, and running to win’ - few truly understand the weight of those words. For Salum Ageze Kashafali, they have defined his entire life. As a child, he fled bullets and chaos in war-torn Congo with his family, endured life in a refugee camp, and arrived in Norway with nothing but hope. Every step was a fight for life itself, and every race since has been proof of how far he has come.

Perhaps that is exactly what makes him a world champion. Or, as his tattoo says, "KING."

On a warm evening at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, that fight turned into history. At the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships, Kashafali became a world champion for the third time. He blazed to victory in the men’s 100m T12 final in 10.42 seconds, clipping a hundredth off his own world record.

"I feel like a world champion. I feel like the world’s fastest man. No, the universe’s fastest man," he laughed, before pausing. "I’ve won gold medals before, the Paralympic and World Championships, but this one, this one is the most special," Kashafali told Outlook India.

The specialness, he explained, came from scars of the past year. "I got an injury in my knees. December, January, February, March, I couldn’t train. Nothing. I was just in the water, swimming," he said.

"I didn’t think I was going to make the World Championship. But the grace of my team, my physios, my doctors, my management, they told me, 'Believe in all 40 trillion cells you have in your body. Just believe you can take the medal.’ And here I am."

From Goma To Norway: A Journey Of Survival

Belief has always carried Kashafali forward, even when the odds towered against him. Born in Goma, he spent his early years begging on the streets, often going weeks without food. "Every day of my childhood was about survival," he said.

In 2003 his family eventually fled the civil war, lived a year in a refugee camp, and found safety in Norway when he was 11. "We were born again," he said. "My goal was to study and get into sports. Football was my first love. But when I lost my eyesight, athletics found me."

Losing his sight at 22 was another brutal turn. Diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease, he went from being one of the top sprinters in Norway to waking up one morning unable to see. "I felt ashamed. In a world so big, I felt even smaller," he admitted.

He added that something is even worse than having impaired vision and it is "To not be seen, to not be seen as another human. It is not the blindness itself, it is what comes with it. People don’t understand the gravity of it. To not be valued. People don’t look at you the same. I had to work extra hard, even lie to my family and friends for one year, just to figure out how to navigate this world."

But running is stitched into his story. By 2019, after years of punishing training, he became Norway’s national champion against able-bodied athletes. Then came the Paralympic gold, the world titles, and now, a third world crown in Delhi.

"The experiences from my childhood, from war, from hunger, from losing my sight, they gave me a dedication, a mental strength, that is my advantage," he said.

What’s Next For Kashafali? Chasing Olympic Glory

That strength now fuels his boldest dream yet, crossing from Paralympics to Olympics. "My goal is to go from Paralympian to Olympian," he said, eyes bright with determination.

"I am already the best in Norway against able-bodied athletes. They dream of the Olympics, so I might as well do the same. I need to get under 10.20, maybe 10.10 seconds. I have to believe in it. With every fibre in my body, I know it is possible."

For now, though, he will let the gold sink in. He will return to Norway, celebrate with his family, his sponsors, his team, and take a short break in Uganda, visiting schools he has helped build. But always, the track calls him back. "World records are a bonus," he said. "They can be broken tomorrow. But medals, the fight behind them, they stay forever."

Running for survival made him relentless. Running to win made him a champion. Salum Kashafali, once a boy navigating the slums of Congo, is now the fastest man in the world in 100m T12, sprinting, smiling, and daring to dream of an Olympic start line.