Marileidy Paulino wins silver medal in the 400-meter sprint
Sprinter Marileidy Paulino won the silver medal in the women’s 400-meter sprint field at the Tokyo Olympics.
Paulino clocked 49.20 seconds and became the first Dominican woman with at least two medals at the Olympic Games, setting a new national record.
The athlete made a key passing in the last 100 meters of the test to take second place.
Gold fell to Shaunae Miller-Uibo, from the Bahamas, with 48.36 seconds, setting a new regional record and repeating the gold reached in Rio de Janeiro. The Bahamian improved the time in a second in relation to the one achieved in the semifinal.
— Felipe Vicini (@FelipeVicini) August 6, 2021
Allison Félix, from the United States, took the bronze by stopping the clock at 49.46 seconds, her personal best, to add her tenth Olympic medal.
Marileidy became the third Latin American woman to win an Olympic medal in the 400-meter sprint.
Ximena Restrepo, from Colombia, won bronze in Barcelona 1992 with a time of 49.64 seconds, and Ana Gabriela Guevara, from Mexico, achieved silver in Athens 2004 when traveling the distance in 49.56 seconds.
Paulino got her second silver medal in Tokyo, after participating in the 4 × 400 mixed relay modes.
¡País! Aquí está la doble medallista, Marileidy Paulino. #tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/UAob4PE9CB
— Comité Olímpico Dominicano (@COLIMDO) August 6, 2021
In the preliminary round, Paulino recorded the best time of her heat, with a time of 50.06 seconds, and established the best result in the preliminary rounds of her specialty in the female branch.
The Dominican reached the final by taking first place in the semifinal with a national record of 49.38 seconds on July 4th in heat number one at the Estadio Olímpico Pista.
It is the first time that the Dominican Republic has obtained four medals in the Olympic Games. After achieving two in Beijing in 2008, with the gold of Félix Díaz, in boxing, and the silver of Gabriel Mercedes, in taekwondo.
A similar result occurred in London in 2012 with the gold of Félix Sánchez, in the 400-meter hurdles, and the silver of Luguelín Santos in the 400-meter dash, also of athletics.
In the Olympic version of Tokyo 2020, the Dominican Republic obtained two silver medals with Zacarías Bonnat, in weights, and the mixed 4 × 400-meter quartets, in athletics, as well as the bronze medal, won by the weightlifter Crismery Santana.
