Costa Rican athlete Daniela Rojas Gutierrez climbed 8 places in the world ranking, so she is now in the Olympic qualification zone. Daniela went from 41st to 33rd place in the 400-meter hurdles event (the best 40 athletes on the planet qualify) thanks to her good performance at the Spring Break Classic in Puerto Rico.
How is the world ranking defined? Each athlete is only added to the best 5 results they have achieved from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024. Through a weighted table, each result is awarded a certain number of points and those units end up being added to define the positions in the global list.
According to the recent update of the Olympic ranking heading into Paris 2024, Costa Rica has three athletes in the Olympic qualification zone. Daniela Rojas in the 400m hurdles, Gerald Drummond in the 400m hurdles and Andrea Vargas in the 100m hurdles would secure a spot at Paris 2024 if the qualification period ended today, March 20.
Gerald is in the best position, ranked 27th with 1229 points, and 40 athletes qualify. Andrea, on the other hand, must look for results that maintain her or make her rise in the global list, since she is in 37th position with 1200 points, and in her event 40 will advance to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Another option to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is to achieve the Olympic record. In that case, they would completely disassociate themselves from the world ranking and would immediately have a guaranteed place in the highest competitions on the planet. Gerald and Andrea have come close to this mark, so it wouldn’t be strange if they achieve it over the next three months. The qualification period will end on June 30, 2024. Andrea, Gerald, and Daniela’s goal now will be to continue climbing positions in the global rankings to reach the deadline comfortably.
