Braian Toledo

Braian Toledo
Personal information
Full name Braian Ezequiel Toledo
Nationality  Argentina
Born 8 September 1993
Marcos Paz, Argentina[1]
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 90 kg (198 lb; 14 st 2 lb)
Sport
Sport Field
Event(s) Javelin throw
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s) 800 g: 79.87 m (Manresa 2011)
700 g: 89.34 m (Mar del Plata 2010)

Braian Ezequiel Toledo[2] (born 8 September 1993)[3][4] is an Argentine javelin thrower who has improved the World Youth Best in boys' javelin throw by more than six meters.[5][note 1]

He won the inaugural javelin title at the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore and also won gold at the 2010 South American Youth Championships and 2009 Pan American Junior Championships.

On 2011 Braian protagonized a publicitary spot for the campaign of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in the presidential elections.[7] And on 2012 he participated, along with others Olympic athletes, in a campaign of Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo to recover the grandchildren that were robbed during the National Reorganization Process.[8]

Youth career

Born and raised in Marcos Paz, Braian Toledo grew up in a small one-bedroomed house with his mother and two younger brothers. Athletics coach Gustavo Osorio gave a class at Toledo's school and invited him to join with his training group. Initially focused on football – the most prominent and potentially profitable sport in Argentina – Toledo took the decision to focus solely on track and field instead at the age of twelve.[9]

He managed a bronze medal at the South American Youth Championships in 2008.[10] However, it was at the 2009 World Youth Championships in Brixen, Italy that he first made a name for himself.[9] In a very tight final on July 23, Toledo languished in seventh place until round five, when he threw a new personal best of 73.44 metres.[11] This was enough to win him the bronze against boys a year older, just 56 centimetres from gold.[11]

After that his results improved extremely rapidly.[3] In July he took the silver medal at the 2009 South American Junior Championships in Athletics and then won the gold medal in the 2009 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships, throwing a new age-15 world best of 69.84m with the men's 800 gram implement.[4][12] Later in the year, he made large improvements to his personal best with the youth javelin,[3][13] with his eventual best mark of 79.25, thrown in Córdoba on October 11, the top mark that year among throwers born in 1993 or later.[13]

World Youth Bests

On February 13, 2010 Toledo improved his personal best by more than five meters with a first-round throw of 84.85 metres in Buenos Aires, Argentina.[3][14] This by a comfortable margin eclipsed the world youth best of 83.02, set the previous year by Russia's Valeriy Iordan.[4][14] He then made a huge improvement to the world best on March 6, 2010 in Mar del Plata, throwing a new record of 89.34, again on his first attempt.[2][15] This mark was some 25 metres up from his personal best just a year before.[5]

Toledo won the javelin at the inaugural 2010 Youth Olympics, contested in the city-state of Singapore in August 2010. His winning mark of 81.78 was almost five metres ahead of United States' Devin Bogert in second place.[16] He won the national youth title in September with a throw of 85.64 m (his second best ever) and in October he competed at the South American Youth Championships, easily securing victory with the third best ever throw for a youth athlete.[17]

Junior career

In late 2010, Toledo started competing with the 800 g standard javelin. He broke the Argentine juniors record with a 71.12 m throw on October 23, and then broke his own record another four times during the 2010 Evita Games held in Mar del Plata on November, with his best mark at 73.07 m.[18] He was awarded the Olimpia de Plata by Argentine sport journalists at the end of the year, acknowledging his position as the best Argentine in the sport of athletics. Despite Toledo's raised profile and the growing expectations nationally, his coach Osorio stated that both of them were more focused on training and improving. Osorio also pointed out that much had been achieved, in spite of the lack of high-quality facilities in the region.[9]

In his last year as a junior, Toledo won the silver medal in the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics in Barcelona.[19] He claimed the javelin title at the 2012 Ibero-American Championships in Athletics and the following month he threw an Argentine and South American junior record of 79.87 metres. He made his Olympic debut at the 2012 London Games, but did not progress beyond qualifying. He won the gold medal at the 2012 South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics with a championship record throw.[20]

Competition record

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing  Argentina
2008 South American Youth Championships Lima, Peru 3rd Javelin throw (700 g) 60.41 m
2009 World Youth Championships Brixen, Italy 3rd Javelin throw (700 g) 73.44 m
South American Junior Championships São Paulo, Brazil 2nd Javelin throw 69.63 m
Pan American Junior Championships Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago 1st Javelin throw 69.84 m
2010 Youth Olympic Games Singapore 1st Javelin throw 77.27 m
South American Youth Championships Santiago, Chile 1st Javelin throw (700 g) 85.32 m
2011 South American Championships Buenos Aires, Argentina 4th Javelin throw 71.05 m
Pan American Junior Championships Miramar, United States 1st Javelin throw 76.40 m
South American Junior Championships Medellín, Colombia 1st Javelin throw 74.04 m
Pan American Games Guadalajara, Mexico 3rd Javelin throw 79.53 m
2012 Ibero-American Championships Barquisimeto, Venezuela 1st Javelin throw 77.33 m
World Junior Championships Barcelona, Spain 2nd Javelin throw 77.09 m
Olympic Games London, United Kingdom 30th (q) Javelin throw 76.87 m
South American Under-23 Championships São Paulo, Brazil 1st Javelin throw 78.49 m
2013 South American Championships Cartagena, Colombia 3rd Javelin throw 75.33 m
2014 South American Games Santiago, Chile 5th Javelin throw 72.52 m
South American Under-23 Championships Montevideo, Uruguay 1st Javelin throw 77.75 m

Seasonal bests by year

Notes

  1. The mark is termed a World Best Performance (rather than World Record) as the sport's governing body, IAAF, does not officially ratify world youth records.[6] The implement used was the current youth standard 700 g javelin,[4][6] as opposed to the 800 g junior and adult men's javelin.[6]

References

  1. "Un chico llamado Toledo" (in Spanish). ESPN Deportes. Retrieved 2012-07-13.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Otro impacto de Braian Toledo: 89,34 metros" (in Spanish). Confederación Argentina de Atletismo. 2010-03-06. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Üürike, Hans. "16-year-old javelin miracle Braian Toledo-84.85!". Team75plus. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Biscayart, Eduardo (2010-02-14). "Argentina’s Toledo improves World Youth best in Javelin". IAAF. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Üürike, Hans (2010-03-07). "Braian Toledo: NEW WORLD YOUTH RECORD 89.34!!!". Team75plus. Retrieved 2010-03-08.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 "IAAF Competition Rules 2008" (PDF). IAAF. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  7. "Braian Toledo, el preferido de Cristina" (in Spanish). Los Andes. 2011-10-14. Retrieved 2012-07-13.
  8. "Los atletas olímpicos participaron en campaña de las Abuelas" (in Spanish). Télam. 2012-07-19. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 Biscayart, Eduardo (2011-01-07). Toledo, throwing to the future. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-01-08.
  10. 2008 South American Youth Championships. WJAH. Retrieved on 2011-01-08.
  11. 11.0 11.1 "World Youth Championships 2009 - Results 07-12-2009 - Javelin Throw (700g) m Final". IAAF. 2009-07-12. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  12. Biscayart, Eduardo (2009-07-27). Brazilian Hederson Estefani steals the show - South American Junior Champs. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-10-16.
  13. 13.0 13.1 Ottavio Castellini/IAAF. "Javelin Throw (700g) Youth 2009". Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  14. 14.0 14.1 "Record mundial de Braian Toledo" (in Spanish). Confederación Argentina de Atletismo. 2010-02-13. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  15. Biscayart, Eduardo (2010-03-07). "Toledo continues to improve Javelin World Youth Best". IAAF. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  16. "Results BOYS JAVELIN A FINAL". Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee. 2010-08-22. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  17. Biscayart, Eduardo (2010-10-11). Toledo, Arévalo and Ballivián shine at South American Youth Championships. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-10-16.
  18. "Toledo: cuatro nuevos records nacionales, y la vuelta a sus raíces". Cancha Llena (in Spanish). 2010-11-04. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
  19. Braian Toledo ganó en su primera presentación del año (Spanish)
  20. Biscayart, Eduardo (24-09-2012). Brazil dominates South American Under-23 Champs. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-01-27.

External links