Alba Sanmartin

Happy birthday to Spain’s promising young sprinter Alba Sanmartín Canet, who is already one of the best in her country over an unusual and demanding distance.

At the Spanish U16 Championships in Gijón she took silver over 300m in 39.92, finishing just 0.19 of a second off the title, and added silver in the mixed 4x400m relay for the Comunitat Valenciana. The 300m is a brutally honest event — too long to sprint flat out, too short to pace conservatively — and running it at national-medal level at fifteen suggests a real feel for the 400m as she moves up.

She comes from Barxeta and competes for CA Xàtiva under coach Toni Ventura, and her hometown council has publicly congratulated her by name, in Valencian, on two separate occasions. When your own town puts out a statement about your results twice, you are already a local sporting figure. Congratulations on wrapping up a terrific U16 career — the U18 years start now, and she is well placed for them.

Per molts anys, Alba! Et desitgem molta salut, molta felicitat i un any ple d’èxits — a la pista i fora d’ella. Felicitats! 🎂🎁🎉🫶🫶🇪🇸