---
title: "Gabriela Traña, Rock and Roll, and Her Chances of Qualifying for Rio"
published: 2016-02-29
updated: 2026-08-04
source: "https://dev-abp.massivoai.com/en/articles/gabriela-trana-la-rock-and-roll-y-su-probabilidad-de-clasificar-a-rio"
---

# Gabriela Traña, Rock and Roll, and Her Chances of Qualifying for Rio

**Costa Rica's best female distance runner in recent years continues her path in search of the qualifying time that would take her to her third Olympic Games. Yesterday Gabriela Traña ran the Rock and Roll half marathon in New Orleans as part of her preparation for the Paris Marathon, where she plans to secure her ticket to Rio 2016.**

Gabriela finished the race in 1:20:37, which is not very encouraging as it falls well short of her best times. Just one example: four years ago she ran the same half marathon in New Orleans and won it with a good time of 1:16:32, more than four minutes faster than what she ran yesterday.

"We're looking to get competition pace and these 21 kilometers help us a lot with what we're aiming for in preparation for the Paris marathon," the runner said in a statement sent by the National Olympic Committee.

Traña passed the 5k mark in 18:53 and maintained a relatively steady pace throughout the race, averaging 3:49 minutes per kilometer in the end. To qualify for Rio 2016 Gabriela needs to run the marathon at an average pace of 3:55/km. Based on this information one might think Gabriela is in good shape for her big test in Paris, but there are two details that raise doubt:

**1. Her final time yesterday is more than four minutes slower than what she achieved in the same marathon in 2012.**

**2. Based on prestigious time prediction calculators like Daniels Running, someone who runs a half marathon in 1:20:37 would finish a marathon in around 2:48:30, more than three minutes off the time Traña needs.**

Based on her recent races, it's clear that Gabriela is not at her best as a marathoner, but she remains relatively close to the qualifying time that would take her to Rio. Gabriela's best half marathon was in 2012 when she ran 1:15:00 in Scotland. Her best marathon was Berlin 2011 when she clocked 2:38:22 and comfortably secured her spot at the London 2012 Olympics.

The real test, the Paris Marathon, will be on April 3rd. If she qualifies she would go to her third Olympic Games after Beijing 2008 (as an invitee) and London 2012 (as a qualifier), something unprecedented for a national distance runner.

A Buen Paso uses [Massivo](https://massivoai.com), the event-registration platform that powers this article.