Alonso Reno Edward Henry (born 8 December 1989), commonly known as Alonso Edward, is a

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

nian sprinter who specialises in the 100 and

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

. He set a South American junior record in the 100 m in 2007 and he attended his first World Junior Championships in 2008, finishing in sixth place. He made significant improvements in the 2009 season, setting

national records National Records was a record label that was started in New York City by Albert Green in 1945 and lasted until early 1951. Big Joe Turner was signed at the beginning and remained until 1947. Billy Eckstine was also a big seller for the label as w ...

in the 100 m and 200 m in May, and winning both events at the

2009 South American Championships in Athletics The 2009 South American Championships in Athletics (Spanish: ''2009 Campeonatos Sudamericanos'') was the forty sixth edition of the tournament and was held between 19 and 21 June in Lima, Peru. Brazil dominated the tournament, easily finishing w ...

. Prior to the 2009 World Championships he again beat the 200 m national record, becoming the fourth fastest runner of the season. At his first ever

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

he set a South American record to win the silver medal in the 200 metres final, becoming the youngest ever medallist in that event.

Early career

Born in

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

Panamá Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cost ...

, he is of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n descent on his mother's side. He was initially coached by Cecilio Woodruf in his home country and came to prominence on the youth and junior

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

circuit, winning a 100/200 m double at the South American Youth Championships and the 100 m gold at the 2007 South American Junior Championships.Biscayart, Eduardo (2009-12-29)
Alonso Edward: at 19, faster than Bolt

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 2009-12-30. His time of 10.28 seconds, at the junior championships, was a new

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

n junior record, improving upon his own previous mark. He also attended the 2007

Pan American Junior Championships The Pan American U20 Athletics Championships are a biennial sports event for track and field organized by the Association of Panamerican Athletics (APA) open for junior (U20) athletes from member and associate member associations. They were first h ...

, but pulled up in the heats. Following in the footsteps of fellow Panamanian athlete

Irving Saladino Irving Jahir Saladino Aranda (born January 23, 1983) is a Panamanian former long jumper. He was Olympic champion, having won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and is Panama's first and only Olympic gold medalist. He was world champion in the long j ...

, he moved to train in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

but an injury interrupted the start of his season, all but eliminating his chances to qualify for 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 ...

. While recovering, Edward moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and enrolled with

Barton County Community College Barton Community College, previously Barton County Community College, is a public community college in Great Bend, Kansas. Its service area includes Barton, Ellsworth, Pawnee, Rush and Russell Counties, Stafford County north of US Highway 5 ...

Great Bend Great Bend is a city in and the county seat of Barton County, Kansas, United States. It is named for its location at the point where the course of the Arkansas River bends east then southeast. As of the 2020 census, the population of the ci ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, working under the tutelage of Matt Kane.Biscayart, Eduardo (2009-06-22)
Brazil repeats triumph at South American Championships – Day 3 report
.

. Retrieved on 2009-08-08. He made his first appearance at a world competition; the 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics. A season's best run of 10.91 seconds in the 100 m saw him eliminated in the heats stage.

Breakthrough season

In the 2009 athletics season, Edward had markedly improved from the previous season: at the Texas Invitational meet in early May, he ran 9.97 seconds to break the

10-second barrier The 10-second barrier is the physical and psychological barrier of completing the 100 metres sprint in under ten seconds. The achievement is traditionally regarded as the hallmark of a world-class male sprinter. Its significance has become less i ...

, with the

wind assistance In track and field, wind assistance is the benefit that an athlete receives during a race or event as registered by a wind gauge. Wind is one of many forms of weather that can affect sport. Due to a tailwind helping to enhance the speed of the at ...

just over the legal limit (2.3 m/s). Later that month he broke two

, running 10.09 seconds in the 100 m and 20.34 seconds in the 200 m at a meet in

Hutchinson, Kansas Hutchinson is the largest city and county seat in Reno County, Kansas, United States, and located on the Arkansas River. It has been home to salt mines since 1887, thus its nickname of "Salt City", but locals call it "Hutch". As of the 2020 cen ...

. The following month he proved his ability to win at the senior regional level, taking two gold medals in a sprint double at the

. He beat the competition in the 200 m by almost half a second, finishing with 20.45 seconds. Further improvements came in the 200 m in

Rethymno Rethymno ( el, Ρέθυμνο, , also ''Rethimno'', ''Rethymnon'', ''Réthymnon'', and ''Rhíthymnos'') is a city in Greece on the island of Crete. It is the capital of Rethymno regional unit, and has a population of more than 30,000 inhabitants ...

in July, as he broke his own national record to win in twenty seconds flat. This time ranked him as fourth fastest in the world coming 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 ...

, with only

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight- ...

Tyson Gay Tyson Gay (born August 9, 1982) is an American track and field sprinter who competes in the 100 and 200 meters. His 100 m personal best of 9.69 seconds is the American record and makes him tied for the second fastest athlete over 100 m ...

, and

Wallace Spearmon Wallace Spearmon Jr. (born December 24, 1984, in Chicago, Illinois, United States of America, USA) is a retired American Sprint (running), sprint Track and field, athlete, who specializes in the 200 metres, 200 meters. He is a two-time NCAA ...

running faster. In the 200 metres at the World Championships, Edward reached a new level of performance. Touted as a possible surprise finalist, he started well, winning his heat and his quarter-final. In the semi-finals, he finished second to Usain Bolt and was the third fastest of the round overall, after Spearmon, with a run of 20.22 seconds. Although Bolt won the final race by a margin of 0.62 seconds to set a new

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

, Edward set a

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

record of 19.81 seconds. He had started the season with a best of 20.62 seconds, but he had improved by 0.81 seconds in just one year, breaking Bolt's previous record for the fastest time by a 19-year-old and becoming the youngest ever World Championship medallist in the men's 200 m in the process.Mulkeen, Jon (2009-08-20)
Event Report - Men's 200m - Final
.

. Retrieved on 2009-08-21. Prior to the 2010 season, Edward decided that he would miss the 2010 World Indoor Championships in Athletics in favour of focusing upon the first

IAAF Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

, keen to become the first South American to break the

. He began his outdoor season in April, winning the 100 m gold at the

Central American Games The Central American Games ( es, Juegos Deportivos Centroamericanos) are a multi-sport regional championships event, held quadrennial (every 4 years), typically in the first year after Summer Olympics. The Games are open for member federation ...

in Panama, but he suffered a strained hamstring in the 200 m and missed much of the year through the injury.Alonso Edward injured in Central American Sports Games

Xinhua Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...

(2010-04-19). Retrieved on 2010-07-19.

Personal bests

*All information taken from IAAF profile.

Competition record

¹Did not finish in the semifinal

Notes

*His name is frequently written as ''Alonso Edwards'', with his surname being anglicised. However, the name which the athlete himself uses is ''Alonso Edward'' without the final "s".

References

External links

Alonso Edward profile
* *
Tilastopaja biographyInterview after running sub-10 seconds in Texas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edward, Alonso 1989 births Living people Panamanian male sprinters Panamanian people of Jamaican descent Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Panama World Athletics Championships medalists Barton Cougars men's track and field athletes Junior college men's track and field athletes in the United States Sportspeople from Panama City World Athletics Championships athletes for Panama Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Pan American Games bronze medalists for Panama Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 South American Games Competitors at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Panama South American Games gold medalists for Panama South American Games medalists in athletics Central American Games gold medalists for Panama Central American Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 Pan American Games Diamond League winners IAAF Continental Cup winners Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in athletics Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games South American Games gold medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century Panamanian people