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Juleisy Angulo stood on the javelin runway at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 carrying the weight of her family, her country, and memories that still cut deep.

Just a month earlier, she had lost her brother, a victim of violence in Ecuador. Angulo had grown up in poverty, often unsure whether her dreams could survive the limits of her family’s circumstances. Yet at the World Athletics Championship Tokyo 25, on the biggest stage of her sport, the 24-year-old added her name to the history books.

Her second throw of the final soared out to 65.12m, adding two metres to the national record she set in qualifying and putting her in pole position. She held on to the lead, becoming the first woman from Ecuador to win a world title in athletics.

For a nation of 18.1 million, whose athletics pride had long rested on race walking great Jefferson Perez, a three-time world champion, it marked the start of a new chapter.

“My goal here was just to reach the final, so I am in shock. I still can’t believe it,” she said, tears streaming down her face. “This medal is for my mom, who is always my driving force to keep fighting, and for my brother, who I lost a month ago. This medal is for my family, for everyone who believed in me.”

Angulo arrived in Tokyo as the 14th seed, largely unknown outside South America. She had never competed in a Diamond League meeting or a Continental Tour Gold event. She failed to reach the final at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships, and few had her name in the medal conversation heading into this year’s championships.

But this time, fuelled by perseverance and sacrifice, Angulo stunned the favourites. In qualifying, she threw 63.25m, a national record that carried her into the final. 24 hours later, she improved it again. Her winning mark held off Latvia’s Anete Sietiņa (64.64m) and Australia’s Mackenzie Little (63.58m) in one of the most surprising women’s javelin finals in recent memory.

A Medal Built on Sacrifice, Faith, and Perseverance

“Too many sacrifices,” she said, when asked about the factors that led to her breakthrough in Tokyo. “I’ve left home for months at a time to train abroad because in Ecuador there are no proper facilities – no track, no coach nearby. My coach is in another country, 3500 kilometres away, and still we found a way. That is why this medal means so much.”

Her career has already weathered storms. Two surgeries on her left knee once threatened to end her ambitions. Economic hardship forced her to weigh training against family needs. But she drew inspiration from Colombia’s Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado, her training partner and the 2023 world silver medallist, and carried that belief to Tokyo.

“I trust my coach, and I trust myself,” Angulo said. “I am proud for Ecuador, proud for Latin America, proud for all women who keep fighting. Now, with this medal, many doors will open for me. But we need support – not just for me, but for all Ecuadorian athletes.”

Trail of New Marks

Long before Tokyo, Angulo was steadily raising the standard of Ecuadorian javelin. She set her first national senior record at the age of 16, throwing 53.23m to win the national title in 2017, and then improved to 54.00m to win the South American title two weeks later.

In 2018 she reached the final at the World U20 Championships in Tampere, then one year later she won the Pan-American U20 title with a South American U20 record of 58.96m.

She surpassed the 60-metre mark for the first time in 2022. That same year, she won the Ibero-American Championships, the South American U23 Championships, and claimed bronze at the South American Games.

She kick-started her momentum at the start of this year, throwing a national record of 62.25m to take silver at the South American Championships. She extended that to 62.33m in late August in what was her final competition before heading to Tokyo.

From the fields of Esmeraldas to the world stage, Angulo’s winning throw in the Japanese capital sailed more than 65 metres – it travelled generations, from hardship and loss to hope and triumph, confirming her as one of the great javelin throwers of her era.

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