Rose Mary Almanza

Rose Mary Almanza Blanco (born 13 July 1992) is a Cuban middle-distance runner who competes in the 800 metres. She represented Cuba at the Pan American Games in 2011, 2015, 2019 and won medals at the Ibero-American and Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics.She was world champion in the 4x400 meter relay in Silesia 2021

Rose Mary Almanza

Rose Mary Almanza in 2017
Personal information
Full name	Rose Mary Almanza Blanco
Born	(1992-07-13) July 13, 1992 (age 32) Camagüey, Cuba[1]
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)[2]
Weight	55 kg (121 lb)
Sport
Country	Cuba
Sport	Athletics
Event	Middle-distance running
Medal record Women's athletics Representing  Cuba World Relays 2021 Chorzów 4×400 m relay Pan American Games 2019 Lima 800 m

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Almanza and the second or maternal family name is Blanco.

Career

Almanza ran internationally from a young age, coming fourth at the 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics before taking the 800 m title at the Pan American Junior Championships.^[3][4] She won at the Barrientos Memorial in March 2010 and followed this with a personal best of 2:03.03 to take the silver medal at the 2010 Ibero-American Championships in Athletics.^[5][6] She ran a national junior record of 2:02.04 in Havana in July and came fourth at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics.^[4]

In 2011, she improved her record further to 2:00.56 and won her first senior regional medal at the 2011 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics, placing second in the 800 m behind Gabriela Medina.^[7] She came close to a medal at the 2011 Pan American Games, but was edged into fourth place in the final.^[8]

She began 2012 in strong form, taking silver medals in the 800 m and 4×400 metres relay at the Ibero-American Championships.^[9][10] A run of 1:59.55 in Havana was enough to gain her a place on the Cuban squad for the 2012 London Olympics.^[4][11]

Almanza continued to perform at a high level in subsequent years. She set a 1:57.70 personal best in 2015, participated in the 2016 Rio Olympics and won the 800m title in the 2017 Summer Universiade.

By June 2021, Almanza had returned to career-best form in the 800m, running another personal best and world-leading time of 1:56.42 in Ordizia, Spain.^[12]

Personal bests

Event	Result	Venue	Date
800 m	1:56.28	Stockholm	4 July 2021
800 m indoor	2:04.18	Eaubonne	9 February 2016
1500 m	4:14.53	La Habana	9 Oct 2014

International competitions

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Cuba
2009	ALBA Games	La Habana, Cuba	4th	1500 m	4:30.20
	World Youth Championships	Bressanone, Italy	4th	800 m	2:04.31
	Pan American Junior Championships	Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago	1st	800 m	2:03.83
2010	Ibero-American Championships	San Fernando, Spain	2nd	800m	2:03.03
	World Junior Championships	Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada	4th	800 m	2:02.67
2011	Central American and Caribbean Championships	Mayagüez, Puerto Rico	2nd	800m	2:02.23
	Pan American Games	Guadalajara, México	4th	800m	2:04.82 A
2012	Ibero-American Championships	Barquisimeto, Venezuela	2nd	800 m	2:03.29
			2nd	4 × 400 m relay	3:29.13
	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	6th (sf)	800 m	2:01.70
2013	Central American and Caribbean Championships	Morelia, México	3rd	800m	2:03.10 A
	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	11th (sf)	800 m	2:00.98
2014	Pan American Sports Festival	Mexico City, Mexico	1st	800 m	2:03.56 A
	Central American and Caribbean Games	Xalapa, Mexico	1st	800 m	2:00.79 A
2015	World Championships	Beijing, China	20th (sf)	800 m	2:00.38
2016	World Indoor Championships	Portland, United States	16th (h)	800 m	2:08.07
	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	26th (h)	800 m	2:00.50
2017	World Championships	London, United Kingdom	8th (sf)	800 m	1:59.79
	Universiade	Taipei, Taiwan	1st	800 m	2:02.21
2018	Central American and Caribbean Games	Barranquilla, Colombia	1st	800 m	2:01.63
			1st	1500 m	4:22.14
			1st	4 × 400 m relay	3:32.61
	NACAC Championships	Toronto, Canada	3rd	800 m	2:00.15
2019	Pan American Games	Lima, Peru	2nd	800 m	2:01.64
			7th	1500 m	4:14.81
			4th	4 × 400 m relay	3:30.89
	World Championships	Doha, Qatar	13th (sf)	800 m	2:01.18
			13th (h)	4 × 400 m relay	3:29.84
2021	World Relays	Chorzów, Poland	1st	4 × 400 m relay	3:28.41
	Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	11th (sf)	800 m	1:59.65
			8th	4 × 400 m relay	3:26.92
2022	World Championships	Eugene, United States	27th (h)	800 m	2:01.96
2023	ALBA Games	Caracas, Venezuela	1st	800 m	1:59.69
			1st	1500 m	4:25.69
			1st	4 × 400 m relay	3:33.37
	Central American and Caribbean Games	San Salvador, El Salvador	1st	800 m	2:01.75
			1st	4 × 400 m relay	3:26.08
	World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	38th (h)	800 m	2:01.33
			13th (h)	4 × 400 m relay	3:29.70
	Pan American Games	Santiago, Chile	4th	800 m	2:03.68
2024	Olympic Games	Paris, France	17th (sf)	800 m	1:58.73

References

1. Rose Mary Almanza Archived 2012-07-22 at the Wayback Machine. London2012. Retrieved on 2012-07-21.
2. "2018 CAC Games bio". Archived from the original on 4 August 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
3. Pan American Junior Championships 2009 Archived 2011-10-23 at the Wayback Machine. World Junior Athletics History. Retrieved on 2012-07-18.
4. Almanza Rose Mary. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-07-18.
5. Clavelo Robinson, Javier (2010-03-23). Barrios steals the show at Barrientos Memorial. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-07-16.
6. 800m Mujeres Final Archived 2010-08-19 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish). RFEA. Retrieved on 2012-07-18.
7. CACAC, CAC Senior PUR 2011 Final Results (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-25, retrieved July 18, 2011
8. All Athletics Pdfs until 30 of oct at 19:16^{[permanent dead link]}. Guadalajara2011. Retrieved on 2012-07-18.
9. Biscayart, Eduardo (2012-06-10). Lauro and Arcanjo shine in Barquisimeto – Ibero-American champs, Day 2. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-07-18.
10. Biscayart, Eduardo (2012-06-11). Two South American records fall as Ibero-American champs conclude in Barquisimeto. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-07-18.
11. Cuba announces team of 47 for London Games. IAAF (2012-07-16). Retrieved on 2012-07-18.
12. Fast times in Kenyan Trials but Timothy Cheruiyot falls short – weekly round-up. Athletics Weekly (21 Jun 2021). Retrieved on 24 Jun 2021.

External links

• Rose Mary Almanza at World Athletics
• Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Rose Mary Almanza". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-18.