Promising young sprinter Mariyam Ru’ya Ali has surpassed her own record in the junior 200-metre sprint. Ali is training in Jamaica, which is facilitated by a sports scholarship from the Bank of Maldives (BML).
The record-breaking feat was achieved at the MVP Velocity Fest 14, held in Kingston, Jamaica. Ali, who held the previous national junior record for the 200-metre sprint, clocked a time of 25.11 seconds, besting her record of 25.59 seconds set in July 2022 at the Jamaican U20 Championship.
Ali’s athletic prowess was first showcased on the international stage at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in August 2022. Since then, she has consistently demonstrated her potential by breaking the junior record in the 60-metre sprint at the 10th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Kazakhstan in February 2023 and the 22-year-old junior national record in the 100-metre sprint in Jamaica in April 2023.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Minhal Shamin, another Maldivian athlete currently training in Jamaica under the BML scholarship, improved his personal best in the 200-metre sprint, finishing the race in 22.10 seconds.