I'd really rather recommend Nim [1] for performance-intensive apps. Its syntax resembles Python, it is far and away safer, but it complies (via generating C) to a full binary, and the resulting binary is very fast.
Don't let the fact that it has a garbage collector scare you -- you can turn it off if you don't like it.
Python has a much stronger relationship to C than Nim. Thus many would argue it would be a better recommendation to learn C, if a Python user. In the case of Nim, it would arguably be a language to learn instead of Python, as oppose to somebody who is already an advanced Python user.
Other strong choices of newer languages to choose from would be Golang, Rust, Red, or Vlang.
Don't let the fact that it has a garbage collector scare you -- you can turn it off if you don't like it.
1: https://nim-lang.org/