Athlete of the week

Romania has already registered its first woman athlete that secured the qualification to the Olympic Games in 2024. Her name is Delvine Meringor, and this past Sunday in the Barcelona Marathon Meringor came in third, clocking 2 hours, 20 minutes and 48 seconds. Delvine thus met the set target required for the qualification in Paris. For her noteworthy performance, Radio Romania International has designated Delvine Meringor the Athlete of the week.

The competition in Barcelona was extremely heated, while its standard was really high. The Marathon records were broken in the men's as well as in the women's version of the competition. Bahrain's Marius Kimutai clocked 2 hours, 5 minutes and 6 seconds, while the winner of the women's marathon, Ethiopian runner Zeineba Yimer Worku clocked 2 hours, 19 minutes and 44 de seconds. The women's runner-up marathon runner was Kenya's Selly Chpeyego, who crossed the finish line 44 seconds earlier than Delvine Meringor. In the women's version of the Barcelona Marathon, seven runners failed to meet the International Federation's Olympic target set at 2 hours, 26 minutes and 50 seconds. As of late, the Olympic set target has been very high, while the most recent such set target is only 6 seconds higher than the timing clocked by the Romanian race runner Constantina Dita, who in 2008 won gold in the Beijing Olympics.

Delvine Meringor was born in Kenya, on August 1st, 1992. Since August 2021 Meringor has been a Romanian citizen and is signed up by Steaua Bucharest, while her coach is Valentin Anghel. According to the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee and in keeping with a World Athletics resolution, Delvine can legally represent Romania at national level beginning July 5th, 2024. (EN)