Libertad Rivera

Happy birthday to Mexico’s 800m runner Libertad Rivera, who runs the 800m with a 400m runner’s engine underneath it.

Libertad’s best over two laps is 2:15.09, set in Monterrey, and she backs it with 57.96 for the flat 400m out of Tlaxcala. That combination is the interesting part. Plenty of 800m runners get to the bell with plenty left and no way to spend it. She has genuine one-lap speed sitting in reserve, which is the raw material every good 800m finish is made of.

She races for Anáhuac Puebla, and at the CONADEIP national collegiate championships she took bronze in the 800m in the Primera Fuerza division, the senior tier, against the strongest collegiate field Mexico assembles. She has also been on a 4x400m squad in Guadalajara this year, which is the other half of the same skill set.

Puebla is a good place to be from if you make your living going round a track. The city’s founding story has a bishop dreaming in 1530 of angels descending to trace out the streets, which is why it is still called the Angelópolis, the city of angels. And her birthday falls right in the weeks when the pomegranates are in and the chiles en nogada come out, which is the best few weeks of the Poblano year by a distance.

Twenty-one is early for an 800m runner. The event rewards patience more than almost anything else on the programme, and she has the speed already.

¡Feliz cumpleaños, Libertad! Que te canten las mañanitas al amanecer, que cumplas muchos más, y que este año te traiga tus mejores vueltas. 🎂🎁🎉🫶🫶🇲🇽