Elena Loyo Menoyo

Knowing a little about Elena Loyo Menoyo

Elena is one of the best Spanish marathon and half marathon runners today. Very important successes shine in her palmares, among which two Spanish half-marathon championships (2019 and 2020) and two runners-up stand out. The Álava athlete is one of the great Spanish long-distance runners in recent years and that is why she has been part of the national team in European, world and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where she fulfilled her great dream of being an Olympic athlete. Watching her run is hypnotic due to her elegance and excellent technique.

Personal sporting achievements…

Elena started running in 2013, at the age of 30, and quickly began to stand out in popular races in the Basque Country. Her quality leap as a runner was given by the great champion Martín Fiz, her coach. In 2016, she won her first title as Champion of Spain in the 10km en route and that of Euskadi in the 5.000m, a title that she would revalidate a year later. 2017 was the year that her name made its way among the best Spanish runners by achieving the runner-up in Spain in the 10K en route and in the half marathon (Granollers). In 2018, he won the silver medal again in the Spanish half-marathon championship (Melilla), which also opened the way for him to participate in his first cap at the Valencia half-marathon world championships, and in 2019 he climbed for the first time to the top of the national podium in Sant Cugat del Vallés, as well as becoming the first Spanish woman to win the Madrid half marathon. The gold medal was once again the reward he obtained in the 2020 Spanish championship, in Puerto de Sagunto, with what has been his best personal best in the distance: 1:12:22 (his best marathon mark is 2 :28:25 in the 2020 Valencia marathon).

What you may not know about Elena is…

Elena decided to dedicate herself body and soul to athletics after finishing her university studies in mechanical technical engineering. She says that she studied this engineering because she was good at mathematics, physics, chemistry and technical drawing, but without having an exactly clear vocation. During her time as a university student, she managed to achieve some economic independence and not have to ask her parents for money; she worked as a waitress, giving private lessons, and as a model. In 2005 she was elected Miss Alava and for a few years she did fashion shows and advertising campaigns as a model. She remembers from those years that she had to stop playing sports because models with muscular bodies were not wanted. From her past as a model there are numerous news and reports in the media, but what you may not know about Elena is that she is passionate about music and that she has studies in music theory, piano and txistu, a three-hole vertical recorder that is considered the most widespread and well-known Basque popular music instrument.