DEVONSHIRE, Bermuda — Back for its third year, a windy afternoon at the USATF Bermuda Grand Prix produced some quick early-season times in the sprints, highlighted by Tamari Davis’ and Noah Lyles’ wins in the 100s.
Defending the crown she won last year, Tamari Davis cruised to an easy 11.04w (+2.2) in the Xfinity Women’s 100, winning by almost a quarter-second over Kortnei Johnson, who was the runner-up in 11.27w.
Six-time world champion Noah Lyles was looking for a win in the Xfinity Men’s 100 following his runner-up finish at Bermuda last year. With a +3.0 wind, Lyles clocked a 9.96 for a decisive win at Flora Duffy Stadium with impressive closing speed in the final 10 meters. Canada’s Aaron Brown was second with a 10.09w, with a trio of Americans right behind. Pjai Austin clocked a 10.10w for third, while Kendal Williams and JT Smith both notched 10.11w times. Williams got the nod with a 10.103 to Smith’s 10.105.
Despite clipping the seventh barrier and clattering the final hurdle, Amber Hughes was a convincing victor in the women’s 100H, clocking 12.57w with a healthy +3.7 wind. It was the fastest time of Hughes’ career, windy or not, and put her .23 in front of runner-up Ebony Morrison of Liberia.
Back from injury late in the 2023 season, Abby Steiner opened her season strong with a successfully defended USATF Bermuda Grand Prix 200 title with a 22.71w. Kynnedy Flannel clocked a 23.01w for second with Jamaica’s Ashanti Moore in third with a 23.12w.
A windy day produced some big marks in the women’s long jump for Monae’ Nichols. Her best jump came in the second round, but her 6.91w/22-8 proved untouchable for the rest of the competition. Jamaica’s Chanice Porter landed a 6.62w/21-8.75 in the third round, which stood through the competition for second. Jasmine Moore finished third with a 6.60w/21-8 in the third round while Tiffany Flynn was fourth with a 6.53w/21-5.25.
A surprise winner in 2023, Elijah Morrow again ran a very good turn and was a half-step ahead coming into the straight, but Matthew Boling and Trinidad’s Jereem Richards took over from there, with Richards gaining a slight advantage in the final meters to win in a very windy (+4.9) 20.39w over Boling’s 20.42w. Morrow ended up fourth in 20.62w.
Overcoming a substantial early lead by Cassandra Tate, Jamaica’s Shiann Salmon pulled away after the final barrier to win the women’s 400 hurdles in 56.59. Tate held on for second in 57.04. In the women’s 800, Britain’s Hannah Segrave eased by Sadi Henderson to win by .1 seconds in 2:06.00. Kendra Coleman was third in a season best 2:06.58.
Slowed by crashing through most of the ten barriers in the men’s 110 hurdles, Louis Rollins yielded the lead to Britain’s Josh Zeller over the final half of the race as Zeller came away with a wind-aided (+3.5) 13.35 to win. Rollins fought his way to the finish and placed second in 13.45w.
Riding the hefty breezes on the runway just in front of the stands, Jamaica’s Jaydon Hibbert, the NCAA indoor and outdoor champion for Arkansas last year, bounded out to 17.33w/56-10.25 on his first attempt to open his season with a win in the men’s triple jump. Nine-time U.S. champion Donald Scott went 16.72w/54-10.25 on his fifth try to place fourth.
Grenada’s Kirani James has won a passel of global medals in the men’s 400, including Olympic gold in 2012 as a teenager, and he showed great maturity in winning his specialty event in 45.96. Battling the strong headwind down the backstretch, James was able to summon reserve energy down the home straight and win by more than a second. Elija Godwin was in contention coming off the final bend but fell back to fourth in 47.38. In the women’s one-lapper, Jamaica’s Stacey-Ann Williams was never seriously challenged as she won in 51.71.
Victor Palumbo took the early lead in the men’s 1500 and led through three laps but couldn’t hold off a major kick by Canadian duo Rob Heppenstall and Max Davies. The pair made their move from the back of the pack to finish first and second in 3:53.07 and 3:53.96. Jaxson Hoey was close behind, finishing third in 3:54.86.
Stacey-Ann Williams of Jamaica took a decisive win in the women’s 400. Williams clocked a 51.71 – 1.29 seconds faster than her nearest competitor, Jessika Gbai of the Ivory Coast. Courtney Okolo was seventh in 54.77.
Athlete Spotlight
LPGA Tour star Nelly Korda joins elite company with 5th straight win
While Scottie Scheffler is wreaking havoc on the PGA Tour, Nelly Korda is doing the exact same on the LPGA Tour.
Korda won the Chevron Championship on Sunday, the year’s first major on the LPGA Tour, and it marked her fifth straight victory.
Korda, 25, joined Annika Sorestam and Nancy Lopez as the only members on Tour who have won five consecutive events. It was also Korda’s second career major victory, having won the Women’s PGA Championship in 2021.
“It’s been an amazing feeling these past couple weeks knowing that I can go on this stretch and that if I stay in my bubble and I keep golf in a sense simple and let it flow, then I can have so, so much fun out here,” Korda said, via ESPN.
Korda was able to hoist the Chevron Championship trophy after birdying the par-5 18th hole at Carlton Woods in Texas. She beat out Maja Stark, who birdied her final two holes to pull within one stroke of Korda.
Korda’s 13-under performance for the tournament had several highlights, too, including a chip-in birdie on the par-4 10th hole in her final round that left the crowd roaring.
With the victory, Korda won $1.2 million from the $7.9 million purse for the major. She has now earned $2,424,216 this year.
There was a time where Korda wasn’t sure when she’d be back on a golf course, as she dealt with a blood clot that required surgery in 2022.
“Because obviously then I was just more scared for my health,” she said. “Competing was kind of on the back seat. I was not thinking about competing at all. But I think all of the sad times and the health scares that I have gone through have made me who I am today.”
She’s the world No. 1 women’s golfer and miraculously hasn’t lost an event since January.
Next week, though, Korda isn’t going to make it six in a row, as she announced her withdrawal from the JM Eagle LA Championship.
“It was not an easy decision. After the unbelievable week at The Chevron and grinding through the mental and physical challenges of four events in the past five weeks, I am definitely feeling exhausted,” she explained. “With so much still to come throughout 2024, I feel I need to listen to my body and get some rest, so I can be ready for the remainder of the season.”
Gymnast Morgan Price becomes first HBCU athlete to win national collegiate title
By Cara Tabachnick | CBS News
Gymnast Morgan Price became the first athlete from a historically Black college or university team to win a national collegiate championship on Friday.
The Fisk University student clinched the title with an all-around score of 39.225 – and became “the first USAG Collegiate National Champion from an HBCU! ” said USA Gymnastics. She was among athletes from 12 college teams joining the competition at the USA Gymnastics’ 2024 Women’s Collegiate National Championships in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Price joined the first HBCU intercollegiate team at Nashville’s Fisk University in 2023 after graduating from high school. She initially signed onto Arkansas before switching to attend Fisk, ESPN reported, after Coach Corrine Tarver asked her the simple question: “Do you want to make history?”
Since forming, the gymnastics team has garnered high-profile media attention, competed on ESPN and has sold out meets.
“I have learned that it is enjoyable to be around your culture. Since we are the first, we have a lot of eyes on us, and our support system is excellent. Seeing the fans and little girls cheering us on was super fun,” Price said in 2023.
Her team celebrated her win with a social media post saying, “THE PRICE IS RIGHT. Etch her name in the HISTORY BOOKS.”
Price will compete on Sunday in the Individual Event finals on vault, bars and floor.
Softball and baseball on same day! Woman makes NCAA history
Melanie Martinez-Lopez | MLB
Jillian Albayati continues to be a pioneer for women in the game of baseball.
On Sunday, she became the second player in collegiate history — and the first in Division II — to play baseball and softball on the same day when she accomplished the feat for Cal State San Marcos.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Cal State San Marcos baseball team was down four pitchers, including three starters, and were considering open tryouts in the middle of chasing the California Collegiate Athletic Association title.
Softball coach Stef Ewing immediately thought of Albayati, a right-handed pitcher for baseball and a third baseman for softball.
The move made sense, given Albayati began to play baseball when she was 3 years old — and she played throughout high school. The All-CIF pitcher from Anaheim went 20-0 with a 1.68 ERA in her high-school career, all while hitting .360.
“I piped up and said, ‘We’ve got Jill on our team, and she played high school baseball,’” Ewing told San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Kirk Kenney. “She pitches and plays third base for the U.S. Women’s National Baseball Team. She can throw.’”
It was not the first time Albayati made a mark on women’s baseball.
She was selected to play in the inaugural Trailblazer Series. It was created in 2017 to provide girls with an opportunity to play baseball with other girls in a highly competitive environment.
The following year, Albayati participated in the 2018 Girls Baseball Breakthrough Series, a program that focuses on developing girls who play baseball.
Now, she has once again made her mark nearly seven years later — this time, just days before the 2024 Trailblazer Series gets underway on Saturday.
When Albayati was offered the opportunity to pitch in a baseball game Sunday for Cal State San Marcos — a first for Division II sports (Christina Elsbury did it last year for Division III Gallaude) — there was no hesitation. According to the Union-Tribune, she threw a bullpen session on Friday to showcase her skills, and soon after, Albayati was added to the roster.
“We’re in a place where we’re pretty banged up on the mound,” Cougars baseball manager Jose Garcia told the newspaper. “It’s not asking her to come in and pitch in high-leverage situations. It’s more to give us a cushion, to eat some innings and help keep everybody as healthy as possible.”
Albayati’s complete game
When Sunday came around, the 5-foot-6 Albayati was ready to pitch in.
First came the softball game against Cal State Monterey Bay. After celebrating her teammate’s walk-off grand slam in a dramatic 4-3 win, the sophomore switched out of her softball jersey and sprinted over to the nearby baseball field. She was called in from the bullpen two batters into the ninth inning.
Albayati was not intimidated by the seven batters she faced. She allowed two runs (one earned) off three hits and one walk to close out the inning.
She then returned to the softball field after her collegiate baseball debut for the second game of a doubleheader. She went 2-for-6 in the softball team’s 4-2 victory to help the club complete the sweep — before once again returning to the baseball dugout to end her day.
“It’s just amazing,” Albayati said to Kenney. “I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be able to do that.”
Albayati hopes to be able to continue playing both sports, but she told Ewing her priority is softball.
“But I know her love is baseball,” Ewing said. “I thought we made a kid’s career in more ways than you can imagine by having her go out there. … We made her dream come true today.”
With both teams on the road an hour away for the next series, there is a chance she may travel with the baseball team while the injured pitchers continue to recover.
The newspaper also reported that Albayati was invited to pitch for the Savannah Bananas over the summer.
NELLY KORDA BECOMES FIRST LPGA PRO TO WIN THREE TITLES IN A ROW SINCE 2016
By: Andy Roberts | Golf Magic
NELLY KORDA BECOMES FIRST LPGA PRO TO WIN THREE TITLES IN A ROW SINCE 2016
World No.1 Nelly Korda continues her golden run with three straight wins on the LPGA Tour.
![Nelly Korda becomes first LPGA pro to win three titles in a row since 2016](https://cdn.golfmagic.com/styles/amp_1200/s3/field/image/nellykord1.jpeg?itok=4QRY0J14)
Nelly Korda has become the first player since Ariya Jutanugarn in 2016 to win three straight titles on the LPGA Tour following victory at the Ford Championship.
Korda, 25, closed with a flawless 7-under 65 to finish the week on 20-under par and two strokes clear of Hira Naveed.
It marked her 11th win on the LPGA Tour.
The win also makes it a consecutive hat-trick for Korda having also won the LPGA Drive On Championship on 28 January and the Fir Hills Seri Park Championship on 24 March.
“To win three in a row is just a dream come true,” said Korda.
That matches a feat last set by Jutanugarn who won three straight events on the LPGA Tour in 2016.
Jutanugarn won the Yokohama Tire LPGA Clasic, Kingsmill Championship and LPGA Volvik Championship that season.
Prior to that, Inbee Park achieved the feat in 2013 and so did Lorena Ochoa in 2008.
Korda will need to keep her foot on the gas to achieve the outright LPGA Tour record of consecutive wins as the current record is five.
That was set by Nancy Lopez in 1978 and Annika Sorenstam in 2005.
USA’s Elle St. Pierre Wins 3000m World Indoor Gold in Huge Upset Over Gudaf Tsegay
By: LetsRun
The US had never won world indoor 3000 gold until tonight
GLASGOW, Scotland – Elle St. Pierre, world champion.
Those are not words many thought would ever come together, but they did on Saturday night as the American sprinted by heavy pre-race favorite Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia down the homestretch to win the 2024 World Indoor 3000m title in an American and championship record time of 8:20.87.
The time shattered the previous American record of 8:25.05 that Alicia Monson set last year and moved St. Pierre to #3 on the all-time world indoor list.
Tsegay, who ran 8:17.11 earlier this winter to just miss the 8:16.60 world record, got the silver in 8:21.13, as steeplechase wolrd record holder Beatrice Chepkoech got the bronze in a Kenyan record of 8:22.68. Jess Hull of Australia didn’t medal but she did take home an Australian record of 8:24.39 as a nice consolation price in fourth. Hometown hero Laura Muir surprisingly was never a factor in the medals and settled for 5th in a season’s best of 8:29.76.
The Race
The race started out extremely fast as Beatrice Chepkoech did her customary thing and took it out hard. Her first 400 split of 65.07 was faster than all but one of the opening 400m splits for the men’s 3000m finalists, which took place after this event. The pace then slowed a bit and at 1k (2:48.83), Gudaf Tsegay went to the lead to keep the pace honest. She increased the pace and would lead all the way until the closing meters.
Tsegay hit 1600 in 4:28 and eight women were still in the lead pack with Muir in 8th just hanging on at the back. With six laps remaining, the top 5 women – the eventual top four finishers plus defending champ Lemlem Hailu of Ethiopia – startedd to separate as Tsegay hit 2k in 5:35.78 (2:49.01, 2:46.77 for Tsegay).
With four laps to go, Hailu had been dropped and Muir was ten meters behind the lead four-woman pack. Muir never gave up but she’d never be a factor the rest of the way.
The post-race splits reveal that Tsegay gathered herself for the finishing kick during the penultimate 400, which she covered in 69.15, with the 100 between 2500 and 2600 being the slowest of the night (17.69). Tsegay then surged and opened up a small gap with 300 meters remaining but her chasers responded and did not give up.
St. Pierre, who had been in fourth the entire race since the 1k mark, moved into third just before the bell and she moved into second on the backstretch. The battle for gold was now on. In the end, shockingly it was the American who ended up winning thanks to a final 200 of 29.76 and final 100 of 14.69.
“It’s definitely really emotional. It’s a dream come true,” said St. Pierre, who said the race played out exaclty how she anticipated (fast) and she thought that was to her benefit. “I knew it would be a fast race. I knew there was amazing athletes that I was going up against and I think that I was confident that that would work to my benefit. And so I just tried to get myself into a good position and hang on to the pace and close as fast as I could. It was nice to not to be thinking about pace that much and just to be competing out there.
“I just hung on to the pace and I was like, OK, OK, I think you can do a few more laps at this pace as long as it doesn’t pick up too much. And then next thing I knew there was 400 to go. And I was like, OK, I can run a fast 400. And so I just hung on and, you know, I believed in myself because, you know, I’m a miler,” added St. Pierre, who said she believes giving birth in March 2023 has made her stronger.
Video of the finish, results and analysis appear below.
In other women’s action, Femke Bol won the women’s 400 in a world record of 49.17, former Texas star Julien Alfred captured the women’s 60 in a co-world leading time of 6.98, as Molly Caudery earned Britain’s first female gold at the 2024 World Indoors as she won the pole vault with a 4.80 clearance. WA recap of those events is here.
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark breaks ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich’s NCAA Division I scoring record
By Phil Helsel and Rebecca Cohen | NBC News
Clark on Feb. 15 became the leading career scorer for NCAA women when she passed Kelsey Plum’s 3,527 career points, set in 2017.
Two weeks after she broke the record for women, Caitlin Clark has become NCAA Division I basketball’s overall top scorer, period.
The Iowa Hawkeyes star went into Sunday’s game against the Ohio State Buckeyes needing 18 points to break “Pistol Pete” Maravich’s record of 3,667 career points, which stood for more than 50 years. And with a second-quarter free throw, she became the top-scoring player — man or woman — in NCAA basketball history.
By the time the final buzzer rang out in Sunday’s game — in which the Hawkeyes beat the Buckeyes 93-83 — Clark had scored 35 points.
Clark’s Sunday total sets the new NCAA scoring record at 3,685 points.
Following the free throw that broke the scoring record, Clark said the record wasn’t on her mind, “but then when they announced it and everybody screamed, that’s when I knew,” she said in an interview with Fox reporter Allison Williams.
Clark said in a postgame interview with Williams that her team “came out and dominated” against the Buckeyes.
“I’m just proud of our girls,” Clark said. “It was a fun, dominant win for us. I thought we played really well.”
![](https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_focal-760x428,f_auto,q_auto:best/mpx/2704722219/2024_03/1709496349544_n_witt_brk_caitlin_clark_record_240303_1920x1080-mau1hx.jpg)
Clark, in an interview during her Senior Night ceremony, said she is “very grateful” after starting her career at Iowa “playing in front of absolutely no one during COVID,” and “now it’s impossible to get a ticket to get in the door to our games.”
“I think the people that have made it the most special, obviously my teammates, my coaches,” Clark said. “But it isn’t what it is without all of you,” she continued, gesturing to the cheering crowds of fans.
“I mean that and I thank you,” Clark said. “This is special. I don’t know if you guys realize what you’re doing for women’s basketball and women’s sports in general, but you’re changing it. You’re helping us change it.”
“I’ve put on an Iowa jersey for four years,” Clark said, “but like Coach Bluder and Kate [Martin] said, there’s still so much more fun to have and we’re not done.”
Clark, 22, earned the women’s record Feb. 15 when she scored her first 8 points in a game against Michigan and passed Kelsey Plum’s 3,527 points in a career that ended in 2017. Clark went on that night to score a career-high 49 points.
![NCAA women leading career scorer](https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2024-02/240227-Caitlin-Clark-ac-1043p-57aa3e.jpg)
“I’m just really grateful, honestly, to be able to be here and make so many of my dreams come true,” Clark said after the history-making game, which Iowa won, 106-89.
She put up 33 points against Minnesota on Wednesday to cement her place atop the all-time career points among women to play for major colleges. The record had been held by Kansas great Lynette Woodard, who scored 3,650 points. (Woodard played from 1977 to 1981, when women’s sports were governed by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.)
Clark and Woodard had a chance to catch up and celebrate following Sunday’s game.
“It’s just a great time for women’s basketball,” Woodard said in an interview with Fox’s Williams following Clark’s new record.
“Caitlin is leading the way. As she was chipping away I said, ‘Records are made to be broken, but also, they’re made to be honored,’” Woodard said. “And because of her, my records are being honored.”
Woodard continued: “I came to this game knowing she had 18 points to get. I had 19, but I have no more playing time. So, hopefully I passed her the baton for her to go ahead and burst through that ceiling, and I’m so happy for her.”
The overall record comes on Clark’s final regular-season game as a college athlete. Though the 22-year-old senior has another year of eligibility, she announced earlier this week that she would enter the WNBA draft next month.
“It probably won’t hit me until a little bit later, but I’m just gonna enjoy with my family and my teammates and I’m just really thankful to be in this place,” Clark said when asked what emotions she was feeling ahead of her “official goodbye” to Hawkeye Nation.
Her final season has been full of big moments and big numbers: She’s averaging 32 points per game, but at least four times this season she has racked up 40 points. The 6-foot guard from West Des Moines is also averaging more than 8 assists per game, and she recently recorded the 1,000th assist of her college career, making her only the sixth woman in college basketball history to do so.
With the scoring record in hand, Clark is now doubtless looking to lead her team, 25-4, to a national title. Last year, they made a run to the NCAA title game, where they lost to LSU.
Maravich’s NCAA men’s scoring record was 3,667 points, which he set playing for LSU from 1968 to 1970.
After college, Maravich went on to an NBA career in which he was a five-time All-Star. He played for the Atlanta Hawks and the then-New Orleans Jazz and for one season with the Boston Celtics.Maravich died in 1988 in Pasadena, California, at 40 years old.
ARIZONA TEEN AUDREY JIMENEZ IS 1ST GIRL TO WIN STATE HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING TITLE IN BOYS DIVISION
GRACE FISHER | HER Sport
18-year-old Audrey Jimenez made history last week by becoming the first girl to win an Arizona state high school wrestling title while competing against boys.
Though she regularly competes with boys during the ordinary season, after three straight girls’ individual titles, the teen had to petition the Arizona Interscholastic Association to compete in the boys’ division in the state championships.
She won her appeal and the Division 1 title at 106 pounds, defeating four male opponents on her way to the final 7-5 win, a victory over Carson Miles.
“For me, wrestling against the boys is going to test me a little bit more,” Jimenez had said in December after winning the AIA appeal.
“Either way, wrestling against the boys of the girls, I’m happy to represent Sunnyside [High School].”
Jimenez said that after her historic win, “The crowd was just super crazy. So that’s what made it seem more of like, ‘Oh wow, I just won state.'”
Jimenez hopes her example will inspire others. “Once you see it done, you know it’s possible,” she said.
Just a few days later Jimenez followed up her victory at the Pan American Championships, winning a bronze medal after defeating Canadian Katie Dutchak.
Paris 2024: History-maker Mariana Zuniga’s training keeps her on target
By AMP Media | For the IPC
Chilean Paralympic archer Mariana Zuniga was 10 years old when she watched the animated movie “Brave”, where the main character, a young Scottish princess named Merida, uses a bow and arrow.
“There was this iconic scene where Merida puts one arrow after the other like Robin Hood, and that scene made me fall in love. I told my mom that I wanted to experience that,” Zuniga, 21, said.
She had tried out wheelchair tennis before but not really fallen for it. Archery was love at first sight, and Zuniga was good. When she was 19 years old, she won the individual compound W2 silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
![Para archer Mariana Zuniga holding up her silver medal on the podium](https://www.paralympic.org/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/2024-02/Mariana%20Zuniga%20CHI%20Tokyo%202020%20Kiyoshi%20Ota%3AGetty%20Images%203.jpg?h=90082eb4&itok=CnjrMF1-)
She was the first Chilean archer to compete at the Paralympics. Her medal was the first won by an archer from the Americas in the compound open women’s category.
“Tokyo was a surprise,” Zuniga said. “We weren’t going to Tokyo expecting a medal. We were looking to gain experience, just living the experience of having qualified for the Paralympic Game And then the medal came.”
Balancing act
Today she combines psychology studies at a university in Chile’s capital Santiago with training five to six times a week and preparations for Paris 2024.
Every day looks a little bit different as she is trying to fit those two sides of her life together.
“This semester I am studying in the mornings, so when I get up, I prepare things for the university and also for training because after studying I go to train,” she said.
It always, though, starts with an alarm clock.
“I would love to be able to wake up with my biological clock. But that’s impossible because I really like to sleep.”
Where many people get over that morning tiredness with a cup of coffee, Zuniga does not. “I feel like it makes me shiver. My pulse goes up, and of course, especially on training days, that’s not good for the precision,” she said, adding that her breakfasts are usually rather all about eggs.
When she is not training, she can allow herself some caffeine. “If I’m at home on the weekend and have nothing to do, then I might have a cup of coffee.”
She likes to cook but she prefers it when it is simple. She either prepares something to eat at home – “usually something Latin” – or eats at the university after her morning classes are over.
“They always sell good dishes there, for example salads that are very complete and dishes with carbohydrates, with proteins. There I also buy some snacks for the afternoon. After that I start with my bow assembly.”
Before she arrives at the training ground, she has already put together her archery gear. She lives 45 minutes from the range, so every minute saved between practice and university is valuable. Assembling the equipment takes about five minutes.
“I get to the field and start the warm-up, beginning with a joint movement, moving the arms, in different directions,” Zuniga said.
“Then I do a little warm-up with an elastic band, and then I start the training.”
Perfecting technique
She admits she does not have a stretching programme, but always does the same movements including stretching the shoulder blades, neck and torso.
And it works. Zuniga says she has never had any serious injuries. She only feels a little pain in her chest and in the trapezius muscle in her upper back when she gets a massage at the end of the week.
![Female Para archer Mariana Zuniga smiling while holding her bow](https://www.paralympic.org/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/2024-02/Mariana%20Zuniga%20CHI%20Tokyo%202020%20Kiyoshi%20Ota%3AGetty%20Images.jpg?h=94810b7a&itok=0VOeaGI2)
What she does in training depends on where in the season she is, and in what stage of competition she is in.
“If we were closer to an event, we are only polishing details of the technique. It depends a lot,” she said.
“When I for example need to polish a very specific technical aspect, I stay short, usually three metres from the target. There are times when I spend a whole week shooting from three metres.”
“Archery is a sport in which one is always learning and unlearning. One can return to a technical aspect or improve something that I worked on, for example, three years ago.”
A general training session lasts for three to four hours. Zuniga likes to train shooting from 70 metres.
“It is a challenge to hit the target from further away and it is also part of the exercise to polish the timing of the shot,” she said.
“I like it a lot, that exercise feels like a very different sensation. It’s like that thing of wanting to be more accurate when shooting.”
Some training days she has been shooting at 18 metres, another competition distance.
“I generally tend to be more slick when shooting at close range than at long range. Yes, there I don’t know what the principle is, but I think that maybe when one is closer all the movements become a little smaller,” she said.
![Para archer Mariana Zuniga pulls back her arrow ready to shoot](https://www.paralympic.org/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/2024-02/Mariana%20Zuniga%20CHI%20Tokyo%202020%20OIS%202.jpg?h=d3da26e3&itok=j0oh3eAI)
Zuniga also goes to the gym about twice a week. “There my physical coach does different exercises with dumbbells, with a ball, elastic, and co-ordination exercises. I’m terrible at co-ordination exercises,” she said.
“We increase the load, depending on the period. And there we also work with specific muscle groups, depending on what my coaches see in the actual shooting practice.”
In archery it is important to be physically strong: “The main muscles that one – hopefully I – should have super good all the time are the triceps,” she explained.
“The triceps give us a lot of stability in the arm that supports the bow, and that means an improvement in aiming.”
But working on her strength has not always been a favourite activity for the young archer.
“At first I hated it because I didn’t train with the gym coach but my coach who watches over my archery. He did the exercises for me and they were only elastic band exercises,” she said.
Feeling like she was getting nowhere, she started training at a gym with her teammates, and loved it. ”Especially those days when, for example, I’m more stressed about university or things like that. I get to the gym and throw out all my energy and it’s clearing up a little,” she said.
Dreaming of Paris
After training, Zuniga goes back home to take care of the homework from university and other housekeeping. She has dinner – “usually something Latin” – and spends some time with her family and boyfriend. The same goes for Sundays, which are usually training-free. Zuniga’s boyfriend is also an athlete, so they also get to see each other at training, to which her parents drive her.
Her close connection to her family is also something that made her recognise herself in Merida in “Brave”.
“The movie shows a lot about the protagonist’s relationship with her mother. My mother has also been fundamental in my personal and sporting process, she has always been the one who has supported me in everything,” she said.
At around 11pm she goes to sleep, ready to repeat it all the next day, over again until this summer’s Games. That is where her focus is right now. After that alarm clock rings, her dreams are about winning another medal, perhaps one in gold.
“I think that whenever an athlete goes to a mega event or tournament in general, he or she always dreams of reaching the podium. If not, I wouldn’t be there,” Zuniga said.