Diana Coraza was the only athlete representing Puebla at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, which took place from Wednesday, August 24 to Sunday, September 5th.
Diana Laura Coraza Castañeda participated in athletics, in the 400 and 1500 meters events in the T11 sport class (this category refers to people with total visual impairment and run together with a guide).
Coraza Castañeda got her ticket to Tokyo 2020 (with her guide Jorge Gaspar) at the Seventh Mexican Para-Athletics Open, held in June 2021 in the city of Monterrey.
On July 1, the Mexican Paralympic Committee (COPAME in Spanish) presented the official list of the Para-Athletics Team.
Her participation
On the first round of the 400 meters athletics event Diana set a time of 1 minute and 1.01 seconds, qualyfing to the semifinals as the best runner that did not won a heat.
Diana finished her participation on the the semifinal, round that she finished in 1 minute and 1.34 seconds.
Meanwhile, in the 1500 meters competition, Diana Laura finished in the fifth position on the heat 2 of the semifinals with a time of 5 minutes and 38.83 seconds. This time was not good enough to qualify to the final.
Her career
Diana Coraza Castañeda is a 26-year-old woman, born on June 6, 1995 in Tlaxcala; however, she has represented the state of Puebla for many years in different national and international competitions.
Her first approach to athletics was when she was seven years old and she started to train in the state of Puebla. In addition to athletics, Diana also played for the Topos Puebla.
In 2013, at the Parapan American Games in Argentina, Coraza Castañeda won gold, silver and bronze medals in the 200, 400, and 800 meters dash events, respectively.
In May 2015, at the World Championship for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Seoul, Korea; she won two silver medals in the 200 and 400 meters dash.
In October 2015, at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar; he placed ninth and fifth in the 200 and 400 meters dash events, respectively.
She managed to qualify for her first Paralympic Games in Rio 2016, however, she did not advance past her elimination heats, placing thirteenth and eighth in the 200m and 400m dash events.
World champion
In 2017, she won first place in the 800-meter dash, with a time of 2 minutes and 21.86 seconds, at the World Athletics Championships, held in London, Great Britain. While, in the 200-meter dash event, she finished in second place.
This earned her the National Sports Award in the Adapted Sports category that same year.
By 2018, she became the director of the Municipal Institute of Sport in Puebla, a position she had to leave 10 months later to begin her preparation for the Lima 2019 Parapan American Games and the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
In Lima 2019, she won the bronze medal in the 400 meters, while in the 1500 meters she came in fourth place.
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POB/RPC
