# Esra Bayrak

Esra Bayrak (born 25 December 1998) is a Turkish Paralympian athlete. She competes in the T20 disability class of mainly long jump and 100 m events. She is owner of world and European champion titles in various para-athletics disciplines.

## Early years in sport

Bayrak started her sport career with athletics in her hometown Çarşamba in 2014. Her coach took she to a national competition in Samsun in 2015. Her success enabled her admission to the national team. Her coach Aytunç Göz financially supported her and her family, and moved them to Samsun city in order to enable her to exercise and to continue with the education. Bayrak shares her apartment with three other young sportswomen, who are also national athletes.
In 2016, she debuted internationally, competing at the INAS European Athletics Championshşps held in Ankara, Turkey. She competed in the 100 m event, and became the winner.

## Sport career

Bayrak is a member of Samsun ÖY GSK, where she is coached by Aytunç Göz.

### 2017

Bayrak competed in the long jump at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London, Great Britain, and ranked fifth with her personal best distance of 5.03 m.
She won the gold medal in the long jump event with 5.17 m at the 2017 IPC World Para Athletics Junior Championships in Nottwil, Switzerland. She set also a new world junior record.

### 2018

She became world champion in the 60 m event at the 2018 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Indoor Athletics Championships in Val-de-Reuil, France.
At the 2018 World Para Athletics European Championships in Berlin, Germany, she improved her long hump mark to 5.27 m and ranked fifth.

### 2019

In 2019, she became European champion in the 60 m event at the 9th INAS Open European Indoor Athletics Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.
She claimed the gold medal in all the nine meetings of the World Para Athletics Grand Prix series.
Bayrak improved her long jump mark to 5.38 m, and ranked on the fifth place again.
She competed in the long jump event at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

### 2020

In 2020, Bayrak was named Best Athlete of the Year.
She represented her country at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, and took the fourth place in the long jump event with 5.37 m.

### 2021

At the 2021 Virtus European Indoor Athletics Championships in Nantes, France, Bayrak was named the Best Female Athlete of the Championships.
She took the silver medal in the 100 m with 13.30, and the bronze medal in the long jump event with 5.36 m at the 2021 Virtus World Athletics Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

### 2023

She claimed the gold medal with her teammates Akın, Altın, Gezer and Yıldırım in the 4x100 m relay event with 51.86 at the 2023 Virtus Global Games in Vichy, France. She finished the 100 m individual event on the fourth place. In the long jump, she won the bronze medal with 5.49 m.
At the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris, France, she did her season's best in the long jump event with 5.39 m, and ranked sixth.

### 2024

She captured the gold medal in the 100 m individual event with 12.98 at the 2024 Virtus Open European Athletics Championships in Uppsala, Sweden. She claimed more gold medals in the 4x100 m relay with 49.92 and 4x400 m relay events with 4:09.91 along teammates Taşdelen, Önder and Altın. In the long jump, she took the bronze medal with 5.45 m.
Bayrak received a quota for participation at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, France.

## Personal life

Esra Bayrak was born in Çarşamba district of amsın on 25 December 1998.