Alessandra Aguilar Morán (born 1 July 1978 in

Lugo Lugo (, ; la, Lucus Augusti) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population ...

) is a Spanish

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires endurance, stamina as well as mental strength. Within e ...

who specialises in

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

running. She represented her country in the event at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

and at the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

the following year and then at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and the World Championships following that. Before focusing on the marathon, she competed mainly in

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...

competitions. She represented Spain at the

IAAF World Cross Country Championships World Athletics Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Formerly held annually and organised by World Athletics (formerly the IAAF), it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the Int ...

every year from 2000 to 2010, with the sole exception of 2007. Her best finish was twenty-fourth place at the 2009 edition.Aguilar Alessandra

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

. Retrieved on 2 December 2010. She won a team

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

with the Spanish women at the

2007 European Cross Country Championships The 14th European Cross Country Championships were held at Toro in Spain on 9 December 2007. Serhiy Lebid took his seventh title in the men's competition and Marta Domínguez won the women's race. Results Men individual 10.7 km Total 57 c ...

Toro, Spain Toro is a town and municipality in the province of Zamora, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is located on a fertile high plain, northwest of Madrid at an elevation of . Toro is known as a center of Mudéjar art a ...

via a seventeenth-place finish. She also won a team

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

at the

2009 European Cross Country Championships The 2009 European Cross Country Championships was a continental cross country running competition that was held on 13 December 2009 near Dublin city, Fingal in Ireland. Dublin was selected as the host city in 2007 and the event was the first tim ...

. She has a best of 32:26 minutes for the 10K distance, set at the 2007

Great Manchester Run The Great Manchester Run (styled as the ''Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run'' for sponsorship purposes from 2017) is an annual run through Greater Manchester (namely Manchester, Trafford and Salford). It has consisted of a 10k run since it was es ...

. At the 2008

Granollers Half Marathon The Granollers Half Marathon (Catalan: ''Mitja Marató de Granollers'') is an annual road running competition over the half marathon distance (21.097 km) which takes place in February in the city of Granollers in Catalonia, Spain. The race is ...

she took second place behind Rahab Ndungu, running a personal best time of 1:11:33 for the distance. She made her debut over the full distance at the Rotterdam Marathon that April and set a personal best of 2:29:03 to take third place. She won the Hamburg Marathon title in 2009 with a time of 2:29:01, which was enough to gain her qualification into the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

. In the World Championship marathon she managed 25th place overall. She ran at the

San Silvestre Vallecana The San Silvestre Vallecana is an annual 10 km road race held on 31 December in Madrid, Spain since 1964. It has two editions: a fun run for amateur athletes and an elite race for professional athletes. In 2012, the race achieved its histo ...

race on New Year's Eve and took fifth place just behind her compatriot Marta Domínguez. Following a win at the

Venta de Baños Cross Venta may refer to: Architecture *Venta (establishment), a Spanish typical inn generally located in unpopulated and remote rural areas. Places *Venta (river), a river in Lithuania and Latvia *Venta (city), a city in Lithuania *Venta (village), a v ...

, Aguilar competed for Spain at the

2010 European Athletics Championships The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, Cat ...

, which was held in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, and managed seventh in the marathon – the best Spanish finisher in the race. She set her sights on competing at the

2010 European Cross Country Championships The 2010 European Cross Country Championships was a continental cross country running competition that took place on 12 December in Albufeira, Portugal. It was the second time that the country hosted the event, building upon the 1997 edition hel ...

in December and established herself as one of Spain's top contenders for the competition with a top five run at the

Cross de Atapuerca The Cross Internacional de Atapuerca is an annual cross country running competition that takes place in Atapuerca, Spain. Established in 2004, it takes place in early November and is among the first major competitions of the cross country season. ...

and a win at the

Cross Internacional Valle de Llodio The Cross Internacional Valle de Llodio is an annual cross country running competition that takes place in Llodio in the Basque Country, Spain, around late November. The event was first held in February 1985 and changed to an end-of-year competiti ...

. Her eighth-place finish at the European Championships was the best of the Spanish women and she led the national team to the bronze medals. She was also selected for the

2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 20, 2011. The races were held at the Polideportivo Antonio Gil Hernández in Punta Umbría, Spain. Reports of the event were given for the IAAF. Preparation The Unite ...

, held on home turf in Punta Umbría, but finished outside the top forty while the Spanish women ended up eighth in the team competition. She was in good form at the Rotterdam Marathon the following month and took fourth place and improved her best by two minutes, completing the distance in 2:27:00. She represented Spain in the marathon at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

, but failed to finish the race. Aguilar was suspended by the IAAF for 3 months from February 2012 to May 2012 for an unspecificed doping violation committed at a Cross Country race in Cantimpalos in December 2011. She qualified for the women's marathon at the 2012 Summer Olympics, finishing in 26th place. She went on to finish 5th at the 2013 World Athletics Championships.

Achievements

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aguilar, Alessandra 1978 births Living people Spanish female long-distance runners Spanish female marathon runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Spain Sportspeople from Lugo World Athletics Championships athletes for Spain Doping cases in athletics Spanish sportspeople in doping cases