Alegna González is winding her way through the streets of A Coruña. It is an eternal zigzag. With a steady pace, she is second in the 20-kilometer race walk. In front of her is the Olympic medalist, the Peruvian Kimberly García. Before crossing the finish line that guarantees the silver medal, the Mexican approaches the fence to take a stuffed animal. It is a doctor Simi, the emblem of a pharmaceutical company of similar brands. It is a doll dressed as if it were an athlete. The Mexican runs with it, smiles and picks it up as soon as she finishes the race, one of the most demanding in the world. A little mischief by the Mexican to make her sponsor visible in this Olympic cycle.
González (Ojinaga, Chihuahua, 25 years old) will run in Paris twice. First she will do it in the individual 20 kilometer event and then she will do it in the mixed format with Ever Palma. For the athlete, who has a degree in Sports Sciences, it will be her second Olympic Games. In Tokyo, in the middle of the pandemic, she finished in fifth place. The result was encouraging because in 2018 she had won gold in a youth championship and her promotion was inevitable.
Alegna González, who takes her mother’s name backwards (Ángela), focused on seeking competitions abroad. In March 2023, she won gold at a competition in Dudince, Slovakia, securing her ticket to Paris with a time of 1:28:09. She traveled to Galicia to compete twice in the Cantonese International Grand Prix: in 2023 she won bronze and this year she won silver. She also headed to Madrid, where she won bronze in a 10-kilometer walk with a time of 43:35 minutes.
In April 2024, Alegna González and Ever Palma won the ticket for a new event that will take place in Paris: the mixed relay walking marathon. In the qualifying tournament in Antalya (Turkey), both walkers finished in fourth place, valid for competing in Paris. For this 42-kilometer event, there will be 25 teams. Each of the athletes will have two turns to cover the distance. The race will be on August 7. The individual event, the 20-kilometer one, will be held in August next to the Eiffel Tower.
“The road to Paris has exceeded all my expectations, firstly on an individual level, and then getting a second place is something historic and something very good for me, a new test (to) grow, which can leave us well positioned. I think we can do something very good,” the athlete told Conade.
González, who funds her trips abroad with personal sponsors, also receives support from the Navy. The athlete is part of a large group of Mexican athletes who belong to the Armed Forces, where they receive a scholarship and can use the facilities to train. Alegna González has the rank of corporal, according to the Navy.
If there is one trait that identifies González, it is that he avoids being the center of attention. He stays away from social media. He uses it to show small fragments of his life, such as training on the trails of Iztaccíhuatl, at the Hermanos Rodríguez Racetrack or in the Andes. His thing is to focus fully on the camps to gain resistance, speed and rhythm.
Race walking has brought Mexico 10 Olympic medals. With the golds of Daniel Bautista (Montreal 1976), Ernesto Canto and Raúl González (Los Angeles 1984); in addition to the silvers of José Pedraza Zúñiga (Mexico 1968), Raúl González (Los Angeles 1984), Carlos Mercenario (Barcelona 1992), Noé Hernández (Sydney 2000) and Lupita González (Rio 2016). The bronzes of Bernardo Segura (Atlanta 1996) and Joel Sánchez (Sydney 2000) exalt this sport. Alegna González knows that she can fight among the top five and, once there, give the extra boost for the joy that awaits her.
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