Alonso Edward

Alonso Edward

Personal information
Full name	Alonso Reno Edward Henry
Born	(1989-12-08) 8 December 1989 (age 35) Panama City, Panamá Province, Panama
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	77 kg (170 lb)
Sport
Sport	Running
Event	Sprints
Coached by	Lance Brauman
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	100 m: 10.01 (Cochabamba 2018) 200 m: 19.81 (Berlin 2009)
Medal record Men's athletics Representing  Panama World Championships 2009 Berlin 200 m Pan American Games 2015 Toronto 200 m South American Games 2014 Santiago 100 m 2018 Cochabamba 100 m South American Championships 2009 Lima 100 m 2009 Lima 200 m 2023 São Paulo 200 m 2007 São Paulo 4×100 m relay Central American and Caribbean Games 2018 Barranquilla 200 m Central American Games 2010 Panama City 100 m 2013 San José 200 m Central American Championships 2012 Managua 200 m South American Junior Championships 2007 São Paulo 100 m South American Youth Championships 2006 Caracas 100 m 2006 Caracas 200 m 2006 Caracas 4×100 m relay Representing Americas Continental Cup 2014 Marrakech 200 m 2018 Ostrava 200 m
Updated on 9 Sep 2018

Alonso Reno Edward Henry (born 8 December 1989), commonly known as Alonso Edward,^[nb] is a Panamanian sprinter who specialises in the 100 and 200 metres.

He set a South American junior record in the 100 m in 2007. Edward competed in his first World Junior Championships in 2008, finishing in sixth place. He made significant improvements in the 2009 season, setting national records in the 100 m and 200 m in May and winning both events at the 2009 South American Championships in Athletics. Prior to the 2009 World Championships, he again beat the 200 m national record, becoming the fourth fastest runner of the season. At his first ever World Championships, he set a South American record to win the silver medal in the 200 metres final, becoming the youngest ever medallist in that event.

Born in Panama City, Panamá, Edward is of Jamaican descent on his mother's side.^[1][2] He was initially coached by Cecilio Woodruf in his home country and came to prominence on the youth and junior athletics circuit, winning a 100/200 m double at the South American Youth Championships and the 100 m gold at the 2007 South American Junior Championships.^[3] His time of 10.28 seconds, at the junior championships, was a new South American junior record, improving upon his own previous mark.^[4] He also attended the 2007 Pan American Junior Championships, but pulled up in the heats.^[5] Following in the footsteps of fellow Panamanian athlete Irving Saladino, he moved to train in Brazil but an injury interrupted the start of his season, all but eliminating his chances to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics.^[3] While recovering, Edward moved to the United States and enrolled with Barton County Community College in Great Bend, Kansas, working under the tutelage of Matt Kane.^[6] He made his first appearance at a world competition; the 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics. A season's best run of 10.91 seconds in the 100 m saw him eliminated in the heats stage.^[7]

In the 2009 athletics season, Edward had markedly improved from the previous season: at the Texas Invitational meet in early May, he ran 9.97 seconds to break the 10-second barrier, with the wind assistance just over the legal limit (2.3 m/s).^[8] Later that month he broke two national records, running 10.09 seconds in the 100 m and 20.34 seconds in the 200 m at a meet in Hutchinson, Kansas.^[6] The following month he proved his ability to win at the senior regional level, taking two gold medals in a sprint double at the 2009 South American Championships in Athletics. He beat the competition in the 200 m by almost half a second, finishing with 20.45 seconds.^[6]

Further improvements came in the 200 m in Rethymno in July, as he broke his own national record to win in twenty seconds flat.^[9] This time ranked him as fourth fastest in the world coming into the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, with only Usain Bolt, Tyson Gay, and Wallace Spearmon running faster.^[10][11]

In the 200 metres at the World Championships, Edward reached a new level of performance. Touted as a possible surprise finalist,^[12] he started well, winning his heat and his quarter-final.^[13][14] In the semi-finals, he finished second to Usain Bolt and was the third fastest of the round overall, after Spearmon, with a run of 20.22 seconds.^[15] Although Bolt won the final race by a margin of 0.62 seconds to set a new world record, Edward set a South American record of 19.81 seconds. He had started the season with a best of 20.62 seconds, but he had improved by 0.81 seconds in just one year, breaking Bolt's previous record for the fastest time by a 19-year-old and becoming the youngest ever World Championship medallist in the men's 200 m in the process.^[16]

Prior to the 2010 season, Edward decided that he would miss the 2010 World Indoor Championships in Athletics in favour of focusing upon the first IAAF Diamond League, keen to become the first South American to break the 10-second barrier.^[3] He began his outdoor season in April, winning the 100 m gold at the Central American Games in Panama, but he suffered a strained hamstring in the 200 m and missed much of the year through the injury.^[17]

• All information taken from IAAF profile.

As of September 2024, Edward holds the following track records for 100 metres and 200 metres.

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Panama
2006	Central American Junior Championships (U20)	Guatemala City, Guatemala	2nd	100 m	11.05 (wind: -0.7 m/s)
			3rd	200m	22.07 (wind: +0.7 m/s)
	South American Youth Championships	Caracas, Venezuela	1st	100 m	10.60 s (wind: +0.0 m/s)
			1st	200 m	21.18 s (wind: +0.0 m/s)
			2nd	4 × 100 m	41.96 s
			6th	1000 m medley relay	2:03.41 min
2007	ALBA Games	Caracas, Venezuela	1st	100 m	10.25 s w (wind: +2.3 m/s)
			2nd	200 m	20.62 s NR NR-j (wind: +2.0 m/s)
			2nd	4 × 100 m relay	40.07 s
	Central American Junior Championships (U20)	San Salvador, El Salvador	1st	100 m	10.59 (wind: -2.9 m/s)
			1st	200 m	21.08 (wind: -1.2 m/s)
			1st	4 × 400 m relay	3:23.01
	South American Championships	São Paulo, Brazil	5th	4 × 100 m relay	40.13 s
			3rd	4 × 400 m relay	3:09.67 min
	South American Junior Championships	São Paulo, Brazil	1st	100 m	10.28 s (wind: +0.0 m/s)
			2nd (h) [18]	200 m	21.84 (wind: -0.3 m/s)
	Pan American Junior Championships	São Paulo, Brazil	—	100 m	DNF
2008	World Junior Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	45th	100 m	10.91 s (wind: 0.2 m/s)
2009	South American Championships	Lima, Peru	1st	100 m	10.29 s A (wind: 0.6 m/s)
			1st	200 m	20.45 s A (wind: 0.0 m/s)
	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	2nd	200 m	19.81 AR (-0.3 m/s)
2010	Central American Games	Panama City, Panama	1st	100 m	10.24 s GR (wind: -0.2 m/s)
			8th	200 m	47.18 s (wind: 0.1 m/s)
2011	South American Championships	Buenos Aires, Argentina	–	100 m	DQ
	World Championships	Daegu, South Korea	–	200 m	DNF (f)
2012	Central American Championships	Managua, Nicaragua	1st	200 m	21.23 (wind: 0.3 m/s)
	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	–	200 m	DQ (h)
2013	Central American Games	San José, Costa Rica	1st	200 m	20.52 s w (wind: +2.1 m/s)
			—	4 × 100 m relay	DNF
	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	7th (sf)	200 m	20.67 s (wind: -0.3 m/s)
2014	South American Games	Santiago, Chile	1st	100 m	10.23 s GR (wind: +1.1 m/s)
2015	World Championships	Beijing, China	4th	200 m	19.87
2016	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	7th	200 m	20.23
2017	World Championships	London, United Kingdom	29th (h)	200 m	20.61
2018	South American Games	Cochabamba, Bolivia	1st	100 m	10.01 GR
	Central American and Caribbean Games	Barranquilla, Colombia	2nd	200 m	20.17
2019	Pan American Games	Lima, Peru	4th	200 m	20.55
2021	Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	23rd (h)	200 m	20.601
2022	World Championships	Eugene, United States	44th (h)	200 m	22.08
2023	Central American and Caribbean Games	San Salvador, El Salvador	–	100 m	DQ
			3rd	200 m	20.46
	South American Championships	São Paulo, Brazil	5th	100 m	10.14
			2nd	200 m	20.30
	World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	29th (h)	200 m	20.63
	Pan American Games	Santiago, Chile	5th	100 m	10.41
			5th	200 m	21.01

¹Did not finish in the semifinal

• ^nb His name is frequently written as Alonso Edwards, with his surname being anglicised. However, the name which the athlete himself uses is Alonso Edward without the final "s".^[3]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alonso Edward.

• Alonso Edward profile Archived 2016-04-24 at the Wayback Machine
• Alonso Edward at World Athletics
• Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Alonso Edward". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-18.
• Tilastopaja biography
• Interview after running sub-10 seconds in Texas

Olympic Games
Preceded by Irving Saladino	Flagbearer for  Panama Rio de Janeiro 2016 Tokyo 2020 (with Atheyna Bylon)	Succeeded by Franklin Archibold Hillary Heron