Nerea Quirós

Happy birthday to Spain’s sprinter Nerea Quirós, who is running faster than she ever did in college, and that is a rarer sentence than it ought to be.

Nerea spent four years in the NCAA at Wichita State, running 12.14 for 100m and 25.41 for 200m in a Shockers vest. In June this year she went 12.06 and 24.90 on consecutive days, and back in February she ran 7.84 for 60m indoors. Every single personal best on her record now dates from 2026. In April she was on a 4x100m squad at the Estadio Vallehermoso in Madrid.

Sprinters are told, usually well before they are ready to hear it, that the college years are the fast ones and everything after is maintenance. Nerea has spent the years since graduating quietly proving otherwise, and she has done it while building an entire second career as a graphic designer and content creator. She also sings, publicly and by her own labelling, with a highlight for it sitting right beside the one for track.

¡Feliz cumpleaños, Nerea! Que cumplas muchos más, con mucha salud y mucha alegría, y que hoy te tiren de las orejas veintisiete veces, una por cada año. ¡Vamos! 🎂🎁🎉🫶🫶🇪🇸