Vanessa Cristina

Vanessa Cristina de Souza (born 20 November 1989)

Career De Souza started competing in wheelchair racing eight months after her motorcycle accident. In Brazil, de Souza has won the Saint Silvester Road Race on three occasions, most recently in 2019. She won the 2017 event despite completing the last with a flat tyre. She has also won the São Paulo Half Marathon,

In 2018, she won the Lisbon Half Marathon in a photo finish with Margriet van den Broek; both racers were given the same time of 58:43. She finished sixth and last of the finishers at the 2018 Boston Marathon. In the same year, she finished fourth in the Oita International Wheelchair Marathon, in a personal best time of 1:45:19. De Souza won the 2020 Los Angeles Marathon in a time of 1:59:51. In the same year, she won the Seville Marathon, in a time of 1:40:27. Her time was a Brazilian national record, although she was 37 seconds outside the qualification time for the 2020 Summer Paralympics. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was unable to compete at the 2020 London Marathon

De Souza competed in the 5,000 metres T54 at the delayed 2020 Summer Paralympics. She finished eighth in the final in a personal best time of 11:18:02. She also came eighth in the 1,500 metres T54, 12th in the marathon T54 event, racing with a back injury, and was part of the Brazilian team that came last in their heat of the mixed 4 × 100 metres relay. Later in the year, she came seventh at the 2021 London Marathon, fourth at the Boston and Chicago Marathons and fifth at the New York City Marathon.