Elena Guiu, an 18-year-old athlete from Huesca, entered the national sports history books. Last Wednesday, she became the first Spanish competitor, in any category, to compete in a world championship final in the 100 meters. It happened at the Under-20 World Athletics Championships taking place in Cali, Colombia. Never before has a Spanish rider, not even a man, taken part in the last stage of the speed test of a world championship. The result was the lesser, the story was written.
He qualified for the final on Tuesday after managing to equal his personal best, set a day earlier: he completed the 100 meters in 11.46 seconds, a time that served him to achieve a creditable eighth position (on 24 semi-finalists). In the final, he finished in last position and could not match his mark from the previous phase, taking six hundredths more to reach the finish line. Those 11.52 seconds became his fourth personal best. That he has achieved three of his four best performances in this championship is a good sign, indicative of his progress and his potential.
The final, however, was dominated by Tina Clayton, the Jamaican runner who defended her U-20 100m World Championship title. Not only that, but he broke the record in the history of the competition with his 10.95 seconds. She had entered the final as second best with a score of 11.17, only one-hundredth better than American Shawnti Jackson, who would win the bronze medal and improve her personal time in the final phase. Silver went to Clayton’s compatriot Serena Cole, who finished sixth in the semis and clocked 11.14 seconds in the final.
The two Jamaican sprinters, classmates at Edwin Allen High School, preceded Shawnti Jackson, daughter of Bershawn, world champion in the 400m hurdles in 2005, on the track at the Pascual Guerrero stadium. A thousandth of a second behind Jackson, the Dutch N’Ketia Seedo narrowly missed the bronze medal, as did the Thai Puripol Bonsoon in the men’s 100m final, won the day before by Letsile Tebogo of Botswana with 9.91 .
World Under-20 Championship record
Jamaican Tina Clayton set the best time in the history of the competition: 10.95 seconds
Clayton showed his great superiority from the start, but especially from the middle of the race, as was the case with Tebogo in the men’s final. “I didn’t think about personal branding or the championship record, but about defending my title. I didn’t feel any pressure. I had great confidence in the work I had done and in my trainer (Michael Dyke)” commented the Jamaican sprinter after her victory.
Elena Guiu said in an interview that she started running at the age of 11 and competed at 12 in regional races. Since then he has broken regional and national records and represented Spain internationally, “a dream come true”. Ahead, another dream: “to be an Olympic athlete”. At present, she is already part of the history of Spanish athletics as the first runner-up in the 100 meters in all categories.
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