Natalia Linares: a jump that changed her sports career
Natalia Linares had decided in her early years in sports to fully dedicate herself to swimming. However, a diagnosis of dermatitis forced her to switch disciplines.
Her first time on an athletics track was at a regional contest at the age of 11. There, the girl born in Valledupar already demonstrated her qualities in different disciplines: she won three silver medals in long jump, 80 meters flat, and the 5x80m relay.
Her teacher at the Gimnasio del Norte school in Valledupar, Fabían Martínez, quickly recognized the talent that the young girl had in athletics, especially in the jumping event.
With mats spread out to improvise a long jump pit, Linares began to train and refine her skills in that discipline.
During her junior stage, Linares excelled in both long jump and the 100 and 200 meters. Thus, the South American School Games in Medellín 2016 arrived, where, at just 13 years old, she won a gold medal in the 150 meters, another in the women’s 5x80m relay, and a third with a national under-16 record in long jump, thanks to a mark of 5.74 meters.
At the age of 14, she had the luxury of training with one of her great role models in athletics: the double Olympic medallist and women’s triple jump champion in Rio 2016, Caterine Ibargüen.
Nevertheless, between 2017 and 2019, her results in jumping were not what she expected. She could not surpass 5.30 meters, and the historic mark of 5.74 meters seemed further away each time.
It was then that her mother, Yanelis González, offered her a deal: if she did not win gold at that year’s Under-20 National Championship, Linares would quit sports and focus on her studies. And Linares made everyone wait until her last jump to claim victory and win that much-desired gold medal.
“He who wants to be beautiful must see stars,” is the saying Linares repeats at the end of each training session. And so the results came.
In 2022, she was the world under-20 runner-up and won a silver medal at the South American Games in Asunción. The following year, she achieved her most important accomplishment to date: gold at the Pan American Games Santiago 2023.