Alessandra Aguilar Morán (born 1 July 1978 in

Lugo Lugo (, ) 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 of 100,060 in 2024, ...

) 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 stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance ru ...

who specialises in

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), 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 ...

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 officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

and at the

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

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, were 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 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 ...

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 soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...

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 In ...

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 and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

. 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 b ...

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 Marta Domínguez Azpeleta (born 3 November 1975) is a Spanish f ...

in Toro, Spain 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 receives ...

at the 2009 European Cross Country Championships. She has a best of 32:26 minutes for the 10K distance, set at the 2007 Great Manchester Run. 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 i ...

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 The Rotterdam Marathon, currently branded NN Rotterdam Marathon, is an annual marathon that has been held in Rotterdam, Netherlands since 1981. It has been held in April every year since the third edition in 1984 and attracts many top athletes. ...

that April and set a personal best of 2:29:03 to take third place. She won the

Hamburg Marathon The Hamburg Marathon () is an annual marathon race over the classic distance of held in Hamburg, Germany. In 2009, 13,938 participants were counted. The marathon is categorized as a IAAF Road Race Label Events, Gold Label Road Race by World A ...

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 to 23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenbu ...

. 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 hist ...

race on New Year's Eve and took fifth place just behind her compatriot

Marta Domínguez Marta Domínguez Azpeleta (born 3 November 1975) is a Spanish former runner and politician. She competes mainly in the steeplechase. She has represented Spain four times at the Olympics and has competed at the World Championships on six occ ...

. Following a win at the Venta de Baños Cross, 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, C ...

, which was held in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

, 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 he ...

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 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 (autonomous community), Basque Country, Spain, around late November. The event was first held in February 1985 a ...

. 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 Uni ...

, 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

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 the ...

, but failed to finish the race. Aguilar was suspended by the IAAF for 3 months from February 2012 to May 2012 for an unspecified 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

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External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aguilar, Alessandra 1978 births Living people Spanish female long-distance runners Spanish female marathon runners World Athletics Championships athletes for Spain Olympic athletes for Spain 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 Doping cases in athletics Spanish sportspeople in doping cases Sportspeople from Lugo