Winner of Brussels 20km race lives in... an asylum centre

The 45th edition of the Brussels 20 Kilometres race was won on Sunday by Patrick Nimubona, a Burundian athlete. He has been residing in a Belgian asylum centre since last December.

The third-place finisher, Lin Ndayifukamiye, is also a Burundian who lives in an asylum centre in Laeken, Brussels (Belgium). Belgian runner Amaury Paquet, three-time winner of the city's popular running event, took second place.

Patrick Nimubona and Lin Ndayifukamiye were professional long-distance runners before fleeing Burundi due to the unstable political situation. Since December 2024, they have been waiting in Maison Saint-Ignace, a former monastery in Laeken, to hear if their request for international protection will be granted.

The asylum centre has previously seen another resident reach the podium at the 20 Kilometres of Brussels: Solomon Belayneh from Ethiopia finished third last year and seventh this year.

Mehdi Bourdoud, a social worker at the centre, hopes that Sunday's victory will help Nimubona attract a sponsor and give a boost to his application for international protection.

(PP with GF - Source: De Standaard - Picture: @ DPA picture alliance / Anadolu | Dursun Aydemir)