The national speed queens at the WIT
The prestigious World Indoor Tour in Madrid is approaching, to be held on 28 February at the Gallur track. This event, which brings together the best athletes in the world, will be the perfect setting for a showdown that promises to be an unforgettable spectacle between the queens of Spanish speed: Maribel Pérez and Jaël-Sakura Bestué will face each other in the 60-metre event.
Both athletes have started the winter season by achieving great times in their first competitions: The Andalusian sprinter recorded a time of 7.21, while the Catalan crossed the finish line in 7.24, facing each other directly for the first time this year at the Antequera Indoor Match just a few weeks ago. The meeting is not only an opportunity to see two of the best sprinters in Spain in action, but also a new duel for them after what may happen days before in the Spanish Championships, which will also be held on the Madrid track of Gallur. Both have faced each other in short track on six occasions, of which Jaël-Sakura has emerged victorious four times compared to Maribel's two.
Maribel Pérez, one of the most outstanding figures in Spanish speed, has an impressive track record. She is the national record holder for 60m with a time of 7.16 and the second fastest Spanish woman in history in 100m with 11.07. She was already a finalist at the 2022 European Championships in Munich, where she achieved 6th place in the 100m, and has an international medal, the bronze she won at the 2022 Ibero-American Championships in La Nucía. In addition, last year she participated in the 100m and 4x100m in the European Championships in Rome and closed her season by making her debut at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 with the 4x100m relay alongside Jaël-Sakura, which marked a historic milestone as it was the first time that this relay team participated in the Games.
On the other hand, her relay and event partner Jaël-Sakura has also made her mark on international athletics. At just 24 years old, she has already competed in the Olympic Games twice in the 200m event: Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. In addition, she is the second fastest Spanish woman in history in 200m (22.54) and 60m (7.18), in the latter only surpassed by Maribel; she has also been a finalist (8th) in the European Short Track Championship in Istanbul 2023 in 60m and outdoors in Rome 2024 in 200m (7th). She has also won multiple titles as national champion: six times outdoors (five in 200m and one in 100m) and three times indoors (60m), being the current champion in 60m, a title that she will defend a week before the WIT Madrid 2025 against Maribel herself.
Both athletes are part of the 4x100 relay, with which, in addition to having made history in Paris 2024, they are national record holders since 2022 with 42.58, a mark with which they managed to be finalists in the 2022 Oregon World Cup, achieving a meritorious fifth place.
The World Indoor Tour in Madrid will not only be a great prelude to the European Short Track Championships in Apeldoorn at the beginning of March, but will also be an opportunity to see the two fastest athletes in history in the 60m compete in a world-class meeting.
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