The task will be herculean, but no one stops it with Pizarro’s streak. The world champion and double Olympic medalist in the 400 meters, Marileidy Paulino, intensifies her preparation towards the pinnacle, a task for which she will have to defeat two enemies, especially the implacable clock.
This is what her coach, Yassen Pérez, believes, who highlights the great approach of the Dominican gazelle that exploded the world with her kilometric strides in a historic 2022 that placed her in the highest rank of her greatest specialty.
And it is that the number one in the world in the 400m spends much of the time in exile to achieve the highest planetary standards. She has just completed the first part of her current journey, landing in Los Angeles from Spain to run the Grand Prix, a new event with which she hopes to strengthen her preparation.
Despite not being fair to the relevance of others of the year, the coach points out that Marileidy will take it as a key thermometer for her greatest aspirations to Everest in the individual modality, especially the World Cup in Budapest and winning the Diamond League again. In the same folder he has highlighted the title in the Pan American Games in Chile, in October.
“Not everything that glitters…”
“(Marileidy) has an excellent preparation, where our only concern has to do with the clock”, disdained Pérez, who regrets that the distance does not allow him to personally observe the process carried out by the woman born in Nizao.
Pérez controls Marileidy’s training sessions only remotely (videos), which he sees as a “thorn in the shoe” against an athlete who does not stop exceeding her work every day.
The handle knows that the key to the final blow can be found in the details.
But ultimately, “(Marileidy) is doing super well with what we have planned, and we expect a great year.”
time is worth gold
If the coach is clear about something, it is the potential that the legs of the “Oregon 2022” World Champion exploit in the 400m mixed, as well as individual silver, and double emerald at the Tokyo Olympics in both specialties.
Although her previous time (50.51) in Qatar has not been one of her best performances, Pérez has no doubt that Marileidy is on the verge of breaking her all-time records, including 48.99, to win the 2022 Diamond League (Letzigrund, Zürich).
Marileidy looks down on her next high-calibre event, which will be in Paris on June 9, corresponding to the Diamond League, in the second of at least four events that she will run in the most reputable fair for individual athletes.
One of the fundamental strategies in the process of the season for Marileidy (leader of the world ranking with 1447 points) is only to do the necessary events, to reach fullness for those with higher carats, in the last quarter of the year.
And Marileidy, world champion in the 400m mixed, cannot lower the decibels due to the absence of the individual champion and 1443 points, Shunae Miller-Uibo (maternity), before the reckless appearance of the Barbadian Sada Williams, the only other rival who exceeds 1400 ranking points in the category.
“All the rivals are high-profile for the World Cup, and we don’t work thinking of any in particular,” warns Pérez.