Alessandra Aguilar

Alessandra Aguilar (born 1 July 1978 in Lugo) is a Spanish long-distance runner who specialises in marathon running. She represented her country in the event at the 2008 Summer Olympics and at the World Championships in Athletics the following year and then at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the World Championships following that.

Alessandra Aguilar
Aguilar at the 2008 Rotterdam Marathon
Personal information
Born (1978-07-01) 1 July 1978
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight50 kg (110 lb)
Sport
Country Spain
SportAthletics
Event(s)Marathon

Before focusing on the marathon, she competed mainly in cross country running competitions. She represented Spain at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships every year from 2000 to 2010, with the sole exception of 2007. Her best finish was twenty-fourth place at the 2009 edition.[1] She won a team gold medal with the Spanish women at the 2007 European Cross Country Championships in Toro, Spain via a seventeenth-place finish.[2] She also won a team bronze medal at the 2009 European Cross Country Championships.[3]

She has a best of 32:26 minutes for the 10K distance, set at the 2007 Great Manchester Run. At the 2008 Granollers Half Marathon she took second place behind Rahab Ndungu, running a personal best time of 1:11:33 for the distance.[4] She made her debut over the full distance at the Rotterdam Marathon that April and set a personal best of 2:29:03 to take third place.[5] She won the Hamburg Marathon title in 2009 with a time of 2:29:01, which was enough to gain her qualification into the 2009 World Championships in Athletics.[6] In the World Championship marathon she managed 25th place overall.[1] She ran at the San Silvestre Vallecana race on New Year's Eve and took fifth place just behind her compatriot Marta Domínguez.[7]

Following a win at the Venta de Baños Cross,[8] Aguilar competed for Spain at the 2010 European Athletics Championships, which was held in Barcelona, and managed seventh in the marathon – the best Spanish finisher in the race.[9] She set her sights on competing at the 2010 European Cross Country Championships in December and established herself as one of Spain's top contenders for the competition with a top five run at the Cross de Atapuerca and a win at the Cross Internacional Valle de Llodio.[10][11] Her eighth-place finish at the European Championships was the best of the Spanish women and she led the national team to the bronze medals.[12]

She was also selected for the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, held on home turf in Punta Umbría, but finished outside the top forty while the Spanish women ended up eighth in the team competition.[13] She was in good form at the Rotterdam Marathon the following month and took fourth place and improved her best by two minutes, completing the distance in 2:27:00.[14] She represented Spain in the marathon at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, but failed to finish the race.[15] Aguilar was suspended by the IAAF for 3 months from February 2012 to May 2012 for an unspecificed doping violation committed at a Cross Country race in Cantimpalos in December 2011.[16]

She qualified for the women's marathon at the 2012 Summer Olympics, finishing in 26th place.[17] She went on to finish 5th at the 2013 World Athletics Championships.[18]

Achievements
Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing  Spain
1999 European U23 Championships Göteborg, Sweden 9th 5000 m 16:03.75
2000 World Cross Country Championships Vilamoura, Portugal 60th 8 km race 28:41
2001 World Cross Country Championships Vilamoura, Portugal 48th 8 km race 30:59
Universiade Beijing, China 6th 10000 m 33:31.49
2002 World Cross Country Championships Ostend, Belgium 35th 8 km race 28:43
2003 World Cross Country Championships Lausanne, Switzerland 29th 8 km race 28:04
2004 World Cross Country Championships Brussels, Belgium 47th 8 km race 29:52
2005 World Cross Country Championships Saint-Galmier, France 47th 8 km race 29:39
2006 World Cross Country Championships Fukuoka, Japan 63rd 8 km race 28:11
2008 World Cross Country Championships Edinburgh, United Kingdom 35rd 8 km race 27:13
Summer Olympics Beijing, China 54th Marathon 2:39:29
2009 World Cross Country Championships Amman, Jordan 24th 8 km race 28:18
World Championships Berlin, Germany 25th Marathon 2:33:38
2010 World Cross Country Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland 40th 8 km race 26:52
European Championships Barcelona, Spain 5th Marathon 2:35:04
2011 World Cross Country Championships Punta Umbría, Spain 42nd 8 km race 27:16
World Championships Daegu, South Korea - Marathon DNF
2012 Summer Olympics London, United Kingdom 26th Marathon 2:29:19
2013 World Championships Moscow, Russia 5th Marathon 2:32:38
2014 World Half Marathon Championships Copenhagen, Denmark 21st Half marathon 1:10:56
European Championships Zürich, Switzerland - Marathon DNF
2015 World Championships Beijing, China 17th Marathon 2:33:42
2016 World Half Marathon Championships Cardiff, United Kingdom - Half marathon DNF
European Championships Amsterdam, Netherlands 27th Half marathon 1:13:28
Summer Olympics Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Marathon DNF
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References
  1. Aguilar Alessandra. IAAF. Retrieved on 2 December 2010.
  2. 2007 European Cross Country Championships results. RFEA. Retrieved on 2 December 2010.
  3. Results – Senior Women. European Athletics (13 December 2009). Retrieved on 2 December 2010.
  4. Valiente, Emeterio (4 February 2008). Wanjiru takes overwhelming 59:29 Half Marathon win in Granollers. IAAF. Retrieved on 2 December 2010.
  5. van Hemert, Wim (13 April 2008). Kipsang sets 2:05:49 course record in Rotterdam. IAAF. Retrieved on 2 December 2010.
  6. Wenig, Jorg (27 April 2009). Ethiopia’s Tsige and Spain’s Aguilar take Hamburg Marathon titles. IAAF. Retrieved on 2 December 2010.
  7. Valiente, Emeterio (1 January 2010). Fulfilling favourite roles, Masai and Cheruiyot prevail in Madrid. IAAF. Retrieved on 2 December 2010.
  8. Valiente, Emeterio (20 December 2010). Rotich and Aguilar nab thrilling victories in Venta de Baños. IAAF. Retrieved 23 December 2011.
  9. 2010 European Athletics Championships Marathon Results. European Athletics. Retrieved on 2 December 2010.
  10. Valiente, Emeterio (7 November 2010). Medhin and Dibaba outclass World champions in Atapuerca. IAAF. Retrieved on 2 December 2010.
  11. Valiente, Emeterio (29 November 2010). Medhin and Aguilar reign in Llodio. IAAF. Retrieved on 2 December 2010.
  12. Senior Women – Results. European Athletics (12 December 2010). Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  13. 2011 World XC – Official Team Results Senior Race – W Archived 6 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF (20 March 2011). Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  14. van Hemert, Wim (10 April 2011). Chebet impresses with 2:05:27 victory in Rotterdam. IAAF. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  15. Marathon – W Final Archived 21 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF (27 August 2011). Retrieved 23 December 2011.
  16. "IAAF News Issue 133, 30 May 2012" (PDF). iaaf.org. International Association of Athletics Federations. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  17. "London 2012 - Women's Marathon". www.olympic.org. IOC. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  18. "14th IAAF World Championships - Women's Marathon". www.iaaf.org. IAAF. 10 August 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
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