Helen Bernard Stilling

Happy birthday to Argentina’s hurdler Helen Bernard Stilling, who has spent the last four years demolishing records older than her parents’ careers.

On 27 June this year at the CENARD in Buenos Aires, Helen ran 13.40 over the 100m hurdles. It is an Argentine U23 record, and it replaced a mark set by Beatriz Capotosto in 1984, forty-two years ago. It is also the third-fastest 100m hurdles run by an Argentine woman in history, twelve hundredths off the all-time national record.

That is not even the best one. In February 2025 in Cochabamba she ran 8.29 over 60m hurdles indoors, and that is not an age-group record at all. It is the outright Argentine national indoor record, and it took down another Capotosto mark, 8.47, set in January 1985. Helen’s own Instagram bio counts five national records. She is undercounting.

The full ledger runs: the Argentine U18 100m hurdles record, 13.79, set while winning silver at the South American U18 Championships in 2022. The U20 400m hurdles record, 1:00.02, breaking her own previous mark. The U20 100m hurdles record, twice, down to 13.58. The U20 and U23 4x400m record of 3:45.22 in Lima, which erased a junior mark that had stood more than forty years. And the two Capotosto records above. Alongside them: South American U20 champion over the 100m hurdles, South American U23 champion over the 400m hurdles, silver at the South American Indoor Championships, a top-six finish at the World U20 Championships in Lima, and fourth at the Pan American U23 Championships.

She started in the long jump at primary school. Her coaches at Lomas de Zamora tried her over hurdles and thought she might have a future in it. She has trained at that same municipal track since 2017, is coached by Marina Fernández and Florencia Acosta, and studies marketing specifically so she can work in sport. Her own line about herself: I consider myself an athlete above all else.

¡Feliz cumple, Helen! Que los cumplas feliz, che, y que sigan cayendo récords. 🎂🎁🎉🫶🫶🇦🇷