Slilma Correa

FUTURE STARS: Happy birthday to Nicaragua’s young pole vault and hurdles star Slilma Correa — and in Nicaragua, a fifteenth birthday is no ordinary one. Feliz quince, Slilma!

Slilma has taken on two of the bravest disciplines in athletics. The pole vault asks an athlete to sprint full speed, plant a flexible pole, and trust it to throw her into the sky — most grown athletes never work up the nerve to try it. The hurdles demand rhythm and fearlessness in equal measure. Choosing both, this young, in a country where women’s vaulting history is still being written, means Slilma isn’t following a well-worn path. She’s out in front, clearing it herself.

And her name already knew. In Miskito, the language of Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast, “Slilma” means star. Nicaragua’s greatest poet, Rubén Darío, spent his life reaching for the sky in words, naming his masterpiece Azul — blue — after it. A girl named for the stars, vaulting toward the blue, from the land of lakes and volcanoes: some athletes have to borrow their poetry. Slilma was born with hers.

¡Feliz cumpleaños, Slilma! Que cada año te lleve más alto — hasta las estrellas que llevas en el nombre. 🎂🎁🎉🫶🫶🇳🇮