Marileidy Paulino attacks 37-year-old WR in the 400m

Yaseen Perez, the coach of Dominica Republic 400m star Marileidy Paulino, has confirmed that he and the sprinter intend to focus their efforts on improving the long-standing 400m world record in the coming seasons.

In 2022, Marileidy Paulino set national records in the 200m and 400m. In addition to this, the 25-year-old athlete won a silver medal at the World Championships in Eugene and deserved the diamond trophy. What’s more, for the first time in her career, she went below 49 sec – 48.99 sec, which ranks her 12th in the all-time world rankings in the 400m.

The world record for 400m outdoors is 37 years old – 47.60 sec, set by the representative of the GDR, Marita Koch. She had a tough time breaking the previous record of 47.99 sec set in 1983 by Jarmila Kratochvílova of Czechoslovakia.

“It’s her dream, both of us actually. In the end, we’ll keep working. It’s hard, but everything has been hard so far and we’re on the road to the world record”, said Yaseen Perez. “Next year we will try to establish stability of 48 sec . This season we worked very well to maintain the levels obtained at the Olympic Games and while we worked throughout the year, improving the speed part and the result of 48 sec became a fact”, added the coach.