COLLEGIATE PERSONAL BESTS (* at Ramapo): 60m – 6.54, 100m – 10.15, 200m – 19.93, 300m – 33.64*, 400m – 46.50
CAREER RECORDS, AWARDS, AND NOTES
RECORDS (at Penn State):
2x Ivory Coast national record holder
- Indoor 200m (20.30)
- Outdoor 200m (19.93)
4x Penn State school record holder
- Indoor 60m (6.54)
- Indoor 200m (20.30 – 2024 world No. 5, NCAA No. 20 all-time)
- Outdoor 100m (10.15)
- Outdoor 200m (19.93 – 2024 world No. 12, NCAA No. 18 all-time)
No. 2 (3:03.15) and No. 6 (3:05.92) in school history in the outdoor 4x400 relay
No. 3 in school history in the indoor 400m (46.50)
AWARDS (at Penn State):
2024 Paris Olympian (Ivory Coast - 200m)
2024 NCAA Outdoor 200m Champion
2024 NCAA Indoor 200m Runner-Up
3x First Team All-American (’24 indoor 60m, 200m, outdoor 200m)
3x Big Ten Champion (’24 indoor 60m, 200m, 4x400 relay)
1x Second Team All-Big Ten (’24 outdoor 200m)
2x Big Ten Men’s Track Athlete of the Year (’24 i/o)
2x USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region Men’s Track Athlete of the Year (’24 i/o)
1x Big Ten Men’s Track Athlete of the Championships (’24 indoor)
4x Big Ten Men’s Track Athlete of the Week (4x ’24)
1x USTFCCCA All-Academic Team (‘24)
NOTES:
In 2024, Traore became Penn State’s first 200m national champion since Barney Ewell in 1941 (then 200 yards)…His title was the men’s team’s 18th outdoor win and the first since Isaiah Harris won the 800m in 2018...He became the Nittany Lions’ first men’s 200-meter Olympian since Mike Sands in 1972…During the 2024 indoor season, he became the first Nittany Lion ever to win two First Team All-America awards in individual track events (excluding relays) at a single NCAA Indoor Championship meet with top-eight finishes in both the 60m and 200m…Broke four Penn State school records in 2024, most notably toppling Michael Timpson’s 38-year-old outdoor 200m top mark.
2024 Outdoor
Season: Won the NCAA 200-meter title…Competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 200m for his home country of the Ivory Coast…Set Penn State school records in the 100m and 200m, achieving the 200m Olympic Standard with an Ivory Coast national record time…Won silver in the 200m at the Big Ten Championships…Repeated as Men’s Track Athlete of the Year winner in both the Big Ten conference and the USTFCCCA’s Mid-Atlantic Region…Earned two Big Ten Men’s Track Athlete of the Week honors during the regular season.
Pepsi Florida Relays (3/29-30): Broke Penn State’s 100m dash school record and tied its 200m school record in his first outdoor meet of the season…Finished first overall in a talented 200m field with a 20.23, tying Michael Timpson’s Penn State record from 1986…Placed fourth in the 100m dash with a school record-breaking 10.26…Anchored the 4x400 relay team to a 3:06.80, finishing fifth. Hurricane Alumni Invitational (4/5-6): Lowered his 100m school record with a 10.20, placing fifth in the meet. Tom Jones Memorial Invitational (4/12-13): Finished second overall in the 200m with a 20.25. Penn Relays (4/25-27): Turned heads with an impressive 44.44 anchor split in the 4x400 Championship of America…His team finished in 3:05.92, the sixth-best mark in school history…Also ran in the Sprint Medley Relay Championship of America, helping his team finish second overall in 3:19.38. Big Ten Outdoor Championships (5/10-12): Finished second in the 200m dash with a wind-aided 20.05 (+3.1 m/s). NCAA East Region Prelims (5/22-25): In a performance that would only be topped by his title-winning run at the Outdoor Championships, Traore put on a show for the ages in the East Region Prelims…After advancing to the NCAA quarterfinals in both the 100m and 200m, Traore showed out on the final day of men’s competition…First, he lowered his own school record in the 100m with a 10.15, finishing 13th in the region, just one spot out of a trip to the NCAA Championships…Next, he ran the race of his life in the 200m, blowing away the 20.16 Olympic standard with a 19.93 PR to finish first in the region and advance to the NCAA Championships…In the final race of the day, Traore’s absurd 44.00 split in the 4x400 relay helped his team run the second-fastest 4x400 time in school history, a 3:03.15 mark that advanced the Nittany Lion team to the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive season. NCAA Outdoor Championships (6/5-8): Traore flat-out dominated the competition at historic Hayward Field to win the 200-meter NCAA title…He advanced to the NCAA final with the top overall semifinal mark (20.07) and won the national title in 19.95 as the only runner below 20.00 in the race. 2024 Paris Olympics: Traore competed in the 200m for the Ivory Coast, running a 20.54 in the preliminary round in his first Olympic appearance.
2024 Indoor
Season: NCAA Runner-Up in the 200m with the fifth-fastest indoor 200m time in the world in 2024…Earned First Team All-America recognition in both the 60m and 200m…Won three Big Ten titles…Earned Big Ten Men’s Track Athlete of the Championships honors for his herculean performance at the indoor championship meet…Collected Men’s Track Athlete of the Year honors from both the Big Ten and the USTFCCCA’s Mid-Atlantic Region…Set school records in the 60m and 200m at the Big Ten Championships…Earned two Big Ten Men’s Track Athlete of the Week honors during the regular season.
Nittany Lion Challenge (1/13): Exploded onto the scene in Happy Valley with a win in the 400m dash in his Penn State debut…His mark is the third-fastest indoor 400m time in school history, a 46.50 PR. Simmons-Harvey Invitational (1/20): Broke Penn State’s indoor 60m and 200m dash records in his very first races of the season at those distances…Won the 60m dash with a 6.63 in the finals…Finished second in the 200m with a 20.42…Ran the anchor leg of the 4x400. Sykes & Sabock Challenge (2/3): Anchored the 4x400 team to a win in the fourth-fastest time in school history, a 3:05.87 effort…Added a win in the 60m dash with a 6.64 mark. Clemson Tiger Paw Invitational (2/9-10): Finished fourth in a highly competitive 60m field, tying his school record with a 6.63 in the final. Big Ten Indoor Championships (2/23-24): Won conference titles in all three of his events…Became Penn State’s first-ever indoor 200m Big Ten Champion and set the conference championships 200m meet record with a 20.44 in the final…Broke his own 60m school record in the prelims (6.59) and again in the finals (6.54) in another gold medal win…Concluded the meet anchoring the 4x400 team to the title, his third of the meet, crossing the line in 3:06.36, the fifth-fastest time in Penn State history…Traore was responsible for 30 of Penn State’s men’s team’s 88 team points in its third-overall team finish…He became the second Nittany Lion ever to win Big Ten Men’s Track Athlete of the Championships thanks to his otherworldly performance. NCAA Indoor Championships (3/7-9): Set the Penn State 200m school record in both the prelims (20.38) and finals (20.30) in his runner-up finish, the highest-ever placement at the NCAA indoor meet by a Nittany Lion 200-meter runner…Placed seventh in the 60m dash final (6.68), becoming Penn State’s first-ever First Team All-American at the distance.