Anthony Zambrano, on alert: he still has no place to go to the Paris Olympic Games

Zambrano has not had it all with him. After Tokyo, he has had a series of injuries that have not allowed him to focus on the objective of qualifying for the Olympics with the aim of revalidating the result in 2021.

The biggest problem he has had is a problem in his groin, which has hurt him. However, he has managed to get close to the 45-second record, the minimum required mark. Last year, Zambrano took part in the National Interclubes and won with a time of 48.46 s. Then, at the Meeting in Spain, he won the 400 m with a time of 46.04 seconds and in Brazil he won gold in the South American Championship with 45.52 seconds, close to the minimum mark for the Olympics. He went to the World Cup in Budapest, Hungary. In his series, the fourth, he achieved a time of 44 seconds and 92 hundredths and came in fifth place. He did not qualify within the top three, but he achieved his goal of getting under 45 seconds, a record required for the jousts of Paris. That time, after the other series, he was able to go to the semifinals, but the unexpected happened.

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The judges realized that he committed an infraction, 17.3.1 of the regulations, which warns about lane invasion. Once reviewed, the guajiro sprinter’s time was worthless. Zambrano was in the Pan American Games in Santiago 2023, but the same thing happened to him as in the World Cup, he stepped on the line and was disqualified from the third place he occupied in the final. In the National Games he won gold, with 46.19 s and he was able to set the record, but when he felt like a winner he slowed down to celebrate with the fans.

The issue is that Paris is just around the corner and the Tokyo medalist has not been able to make the mark. He has the option tomorrow in Brazil, but everything remains to be seen. “Everything is uncertain. He went through injuries last year and the idea is for him to be part of the process. He is on track to achieve the mark,” Alejandro Pedraza told EL TIEMPO, who is also seeking the individual mark in the 400 m in Brazil and in the mixed relay. With Zambrano he won gold at the Lima Pan American Games in the long relay, alongside Diego Palomeque and Jhon Solís.

And he added: “He already made the mark, but in the World Cup he was disqualified. In Santiago he also stepped on the line. That happens in sports, but that indicates that he can get registration in Brazil or in the upcoming Colombian competitions. He has to do it in what is coming and it is not far away.”

One of the key points that the 68 Colombians who will compete in Brazil, 36 women and 32 men, will have will be the weather. It is very hot in Cuiabá and that is not so favorable to get the marks.

“It’s too hot, it’s rough and we have to take care of the high humidity, so it’s a factor that plays. You have to be well hydrated. The heat is counterproductive, it depends on how we get there. We were concentrated in Bogotá, then we were at the World Relay Championships in the Bahamas, where it was very hot and we arrived in Brazil with hostile weather,” Perlaza said.

Colombia will also look for other records for Paris, such as in the relays. The closest is the 4×400 mixed. If you have to go through the ranks and at this moment the 15th place is occupied by Mexico, which has a record of 3 minutes 13 seconds, a mark that, according to those in the know, the Colombians can go down. Peralaza, Nicolás Salinas, Yenifer Padilla and Lina Licona, for now, are in the test that will be on Sunday. On the Colombian roster for the Ibero-American, figures such as Natalia Linares (high jump), Flor Denis Ruiz (javelin), both already with guaranteed Olympic quota, stand out, Zambrano and Arnovis Dalmero (long jump), who is close to the minimum record for Paris .

Colombian athletes will have more options to seek the record that takes them to the Games in the Grand Prix of Bogotá (May 25 and 26), in Cali (June 15) and in the National Championship, also in Cali (28 to June 30) last day to close the classification to Paris, except in the marathon.