SIMPLEX Athletic Club Mauricia Prieto sprinter is chasing Commonwealth Wealth Games qualification in the women’s 100 and 200-metre events.
The 26-year-old, like most local track and field athletes, only made a competitive return to the domestic circuit in January following the lifting of covid19 restrictions for sport.
Since then, she has only competed at two major meets – Tobago Falcon Games and Republic Bank/NAAA Relay Festival – but remains focused on attaining the required Commonwealth standards to secure a coveted national team spot.
The Commonwealth Games get underway in Birmingham, United Kingdom from July 28 to August 8.
According to the National Association of Athletics Administrations website, the qualification standard for the women’s 100m is 11.44 seconds while the 200m is 23.18 seconds.
At the Falcon Games, Prieto won silver in 12.02s, trailing gold medallist Shaniqua Bascombe (11.96s) of Cougars. In the 200m, the Marabella-based athlete powered to gold in 23.88s.
The Relay Festival did not feature individual events but Prieto and her South/Central team earned triple-silver in the women’s 4x100m, 4x200m and mixed medley relay (1x1x2x400).
Prior to these events, Prieto took part in three of the four NAAA preparation meets, where she comfortably won both the 100m and 200m races at each leg.
Her best 100m time for this year is 11.82s and her best 200m time is 23.65s.
Having taken a year off in 2021 owing to the pandemic, Prieto is back and hunting precious qualification.
Her next shot at securing qualification will come at the National Track and Field Championships in late June.
“I do have my mind set on the Commonwealth Games and the World Championships in Oregon. I haven’t run either standard yet because I’m still trying to get into my full running form seeing that I took a year off track.
“I’m catching back my form and the turnovers are coming along pretty well. With the relays, I just ran, that helped me because we were not given a lot of meets so far,” she said.
[caption id="attachment_958408" align="alignnone" width="683"] Sprinter Mauricia Prieto trains recently at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella. The Simplex Athletic Club sprinter is vying for a chance to represent TT at the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. Photo by Marvin Hamilton[/caption]
Twelve months away from track did set her back a bit, but Prieto remains motivated, under head coach Gunness Persad, to keep pushing her body to the limit to achieve her personal objectives.
“I just need to continue to trust my training, react to the competition and go out there and do what I do best – compete and go straight down to the line. I will try my best to obtain the standards.
“If I make the time, it is super important. It will boost my confidence even more because I have been pushing my body really hard on my come back (to competition),” she added.
Prieto trains Monday through Friday for three hours at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella. She works alongside Persad and fellow female athl
