Nicole Caicedo Arce

Happy birthday to Ecuador’s sprinter Nicole Caicedo Arce, an Olympian and the fastest Ecuadorian woman ever over 200m.

In April in Quito, Nicole ran 22.69 to take the Ecuadorian 200m record, and the woman who finished behind her was Ángela Tenorio, her own teammate from the Gacelas relay squad and the sprinter who carried Ecuadorian women’s sprinting for a decade. Two of them one and two in the same race, with a national record on the board. In June she took the 200m silver at the Pan American Championships in Medellín in 23.06, and in December she won the Bolivarian Games 200m title in 23.09. Her bio also carries two South American titles, two Pan American Games silvers and a 400m national record of 51.53.

That range is the remarkable part. She holds national records at 200m and 400m, and she runs the third leg of Ecuador’s 4x100m, which is the second curve, the leg you give to the sprinter who can hold form under pressure with the race in the balance. She has been part of Ecuadorian national records in both relays as well.

A career that includes an Olympic Games in Paris, continental golds and silvers, and national records at two different distances puts her at the very front of what Ecuadorian athletics has ever produced. She also lends her name to @fundacionnuncaterindas76, which is a good use of a platform.

¡Feliz cumpleaños, Nicole! Que cumplas muchos más y que las gacelas sigan volando. ¡Vamos Ecuador! 🎂🎁🎉🫶🫶🇪🇨