The athlete takes on the pressure and assures that this is his goal in Paris 2024, although he is aware of the demands and rivalry in the five thousand meter race.
The athlete will experience his second Olympic Games adventure in the French capital, following having competed in Tokyo 2020, where she surprised the elite world by qualifying for the final and finishing in 12th place.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics were Grijalva’s debut as a Guatemalan athlete and, above all, the first outside the borders of the United States, since his status as an immigrant, at that time, did not allow him to leave the country.
Today the story is different, since in March of this year he obtained a special visa as a Guatemalan to be able to travel whenever he needs to. The process allowed him to visit the country for the first time since his parents took him to the United States when he was 2 years old.
Objective in Paris
The Olympic athlete received the affection and recognition of the Guatemalans, in addition to sharing for the first time with the media, to whom he repeated his pride in representing the blue and white colors, as well as the dream of winning an Olympic medal.
“It’s possible. I finished 12th at the Tokyo Olympics and I really don’t know how I did it. “I have more experience now and last year I was fourth in the world. It is possible to win, but I need a lot of work and sacrifice to achieve it,” he said in an interview with Prensa Libre in March of this year.
Grijalva qualified for the Paris Olympics in August 2023, at the Diamond League in Zurich, Switzerland, where she finished in fourth place, with a time of 12:55.88thus becoming the second athlete in the delegation. The first was José Alejandro Barrondo, race walker.
Before the second Olympic adventure, the national runner continues training in Arizona, United States, where he resides, where he seeks to increase his level alongside runners such as Nico Young from the United States and Theo Quax from New Zealand.
According to the official Paris 2024 calendar, Luis’s competition is scheduled for August 7, at 3:10 a.m. Guatemala time. This will be the qualifying round for the 5,000-meter track and field event, which will take place at the Stade de France.
In 2024, the national runner climbed onto the podium in the three thousand meters, in the Diamond League in Sweden, in June, having won bronze, with a time of 7:33.96, while in Oslo, Norway, In May, he finished sixth, with 12:50.58, which became a new national record.
Details of Luis Grijalva
- • Born on April 10, 1999, in Guatemala, but has lived in the United States since he was 2 years old.
- • Distance: his specialty is the five thousand meters.
- • Classification: She set a time of 12:55.88 in August 2023 in Zurich, Switzerland.
- • The athlete holds the national records for 1,500, 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 meters.
#Luis #Grijalva #medal #hopes #Paris #Olympics
