TRUJILLO,PERÚ-NOVIEMBRE 28.Atleta peruana Inés Melchor,gano la medalla de oro en los 5000 metros planos en los XVII Juegos Deportivos Bolivarianos. Foto: ANDINA/Jack Ramón
Ines Melchor, who qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in the women's 10,000-meter race, assured she is currently the best long-distant- runner in Peru and also one of the top in South America, which is why she is focused on winning a medal at the Olympic event.
She is currently training in Huancayo to achieve her goal of reducing running time and, therefore, optimize her performance.
“At the present time I am the best long-distance runner in Peru and one of the best in South America. That makes me feel happy and I know awards will come,” the 28-year-old told Andina news agency.
Melchor’s goal is to finish the marathon in five hours and 23 minutes and the 10,000-meter race in 31 minutes and 30 seconds.
“I have improved significantly since last year. The race I ran in the United States was my second 10,000-meter race and I improved my performance. I also did well in the marathon. I know I still have much to improve; we are going step by step,” she added.
The Peruvian runner managed to break a national record on Sunday at the 2015 Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational 10,000-meter race, which took place at California’s Stanford University during the weekend. She finished with a time of 31:56.62 and managed to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
On April 12, she finished first (2:28.18) at the Santiago Marathon (Chile), allowing her to get the ticket for the Olympic marathon trials as well.
(END) JSO/RMB/MVB
Published: 5/5/2015