Mariangel Nunez

Happy birthday to Costa Rica’s 400m hurdler Mariangel Núñez, who won a senior Central American title at nineteen and took a continental bronze five weeks ago.

In June at the Central American Senior Championships in Managua, Mariangel won the 400m hurdles in 59.80 — a senior area title, against grown women, at nineteen years old — and then went back out and helped Costa Rica win the 4x400m, running the final. In July she went to Tlaxcala for the NACAC U23 Championships and took bronze in the 400m hurdles in 1:00.45. Two continental medals in five weeks, one of them senior gold.

Her spring had already been remarkable. Racing for Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico at the LAI championships in Mayagüez, she set two personal bests inside four days: 54.85 for the flat 400m on 30 April, then 58.95 in the 400m hurdles final on 2 May for second place. She also ran the mixed 4x400m final. Earlier in the season she raced an 800m and a wind-aided 14.66 over the 100m hurdles, which is a genuinely eccentric range for a specialist — 800 metres and sprint hurdles are about as far apart as two events get.

The 400m hurdles is the event that rewards exactly that kind of versatility. You need a sprinter’s speed, a middle-distance runner’s tolerance for the last hundred metres, and the stride discipline to hit ten barriers when your legs have stopped cooperating. She has been building all three since she was a teenager in Costa Rica, went to the World U20 Championships in Lima at seventeen, and was recruited to Puerto Rico on a scholarship the following year. She is studying graphic design there.

¡Feliz cumpleaños, Mariangel! Mucha salud, mucha alegría y que sigás volando sobre cada valla que te pongan delante. ¡Pura vida! 🎂🎁🎉🫶🫶🇨🇷