National distance runner Gabriela Traña will not participate in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Her third and final attempt, today at the Marathon de París, fell short with a final time of 2:49:17, more than four minutes outside the 2:45:00 qualifying time she needed.

At 36 years old, the Marathon de París was perhaps Gabriela's last attempt to go to her third Olympic Games. In 2008 she had gone by invitation to the Beijing Olympics, and in 2012 she had qualified for London with the best time of her life: 2:38:22.

But today, four years later, her strength is no longer the same. Gaby ran up to kilometer 25 at the planned pace (between 3:45 and 3:55 per kilometer), but in the last 15 kilometers her pace became increasingly slower. In the first 10 kilometers she averaged 3:49 minutes per kilometer and from there her pace progressively declined, as can be seen in the table below.

Gabriela had already tried to qualify for Rio 2016 at the Marathon de Berlín last year, but finished with a time of 2:46:34. She also could have qualified at the Marathon de Rotterdam last year, but on that occasion she finished in 2:52:03.

For now no Costa Rican distance runner has achieved the necessary time to qualify for Rio. It would be the first time since Athens 2004 that the Olympic marathon is run without national athletes. César Lizano will still try in Rotterdam, in a week, after coming eight seconds short of the dream three months ago in Houston.

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