From Guayaquil to the Laureus stage: Kiara Rodriguez makes Ecuadorian history

Kiara Rodriguez keeps writing new chapters for Ecuador in international sports. Already her country’s most successful Paralympian, she will be travelling to Madrid this month as the first Ecuadorian athlete ever nominated to the prestigious Laureus Worlds Sports Awards.

The 23-year-old from Guayaquil is one of the six contenders for the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability award. She is one of two Para athletics nominees, alongside Swiss wheelchair racer Catherine Debrunner, the sport’s most recent winner in 2023. 

“It is a big emotion. When I received the news, I felt a lot of pride – not only for myself, but for the entire journey and [for] the people who have been with me. Being nominated for the Laureus is something I dreamed of, and today it is a reality,” Rodriguez said.

Her nomination follows a remarkable performance at last year’s World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi, India, where she won three gold medals. “A hat-trick of golds added to her profile as one of Para athletics’ brightest young talents,” the Laureus World Sports Academy said in its announcement. 

The highlight of her campaign was the 200m T47, where Rodriguez broke a 13-year-old world record. She first clocked 24.37 in the heats, surpassing Cuba’s Yunidis Castillo 24.45 mark from the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Two days later, she lowered her own record to 24.34 to take gold. In New Delhi, she also defended her 100m T47 title and claimed a fourth consecutive long jump T47 gold – an event in which she also holds the world record. 

If she wins the Laureus award, Rodriguez would become the first Para athletics athlete with upper limb impairment to receive the statuette – she is only the second to be shortlisted, and the first since Nigeria’s Vitalis Lanshima in 2004.

“I know the level of the other nominees, and it fills me with motivation to be among them. I am going to enjoy every moment of this experience with much gratitude,” Rodriguez added.

Three golds in three events and a new world record at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships ✨

Kiara Rodríguez - Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Nominee#Laureus26 | @ParaAthletics | @Paralympics pic.twitter.com/YDodTdo3GB

— Laureus (@LaureusSport) March 18, 2026

Meeting her idol

The trip to Madrid may also give the Rodriguez the chance to meet her idol, Venezuela’s Olympic triple jump star Yulimar Rojas, who is nominated for the Laureus World Comeback of the Year award. When Rodriguez won her first Paralympic gold in the long jump at Paris 2024, she dedicated the medal to Rojas, who missed the 2024 Olympics due to injury:

“Yulimar [Rojas] is someone I admire very much. It was very sad that Yulimar couldn't compete in Paris at the Olympic Games. I would like to share my medal with her.”

Rodriguez and Rojas share similar backgrounds, both raised in humble areas in major South American cities and both helping bring economic stability to their families through sport. 

As a child, Roriguez’s favourite sport was volleyball, but she fell in love with Para athletics at age 12.

"Para sport has changed my life completely,” she said during the Paris 2023 World Para Athletics Championships. “It changed everything around me and also myself: from the way I used to live to how I live now. It’s responsible for the comfort my family and I have now.”

“What I like the most is competing. That is what I train for, to give my best in each event,” Rodriguez added. “The preparation to reach a high level is very hard. In my case, it was hard because I didn’t see myself the way I am now.”

The Award winners will be decided by the members of the Laureus World Sports Academy and announced at a gala event to be held at the Cibeles Palace in Madrid on 20 April.

Kiara Rodríguez's medals 

Paralympic Games

Gold in the long jump T47 at Paris 2024

Gold in the 100m T47 at Paris 2024

Bronze in the long jump T47 at Tokyo 2020

World Para Athletics Championships

Gold in the 100m T47 at the New Delhi 2025 World Championships

Gold in the 200m T47 at the New Delhi 2025 World Championships

Gold in the long jump T47 at the New Delhi 2025 World Championships

Gold in the 100m T47 at the Kobe 2024 World Championships

Gold in the long jump T47 at the Kobe 2024 World Championships

Gold in 100m T47 at the Paris 2023 World Championships

Gold in the long jump T47 at the Paris 2023 World Championships

Gold in the long jump T47 at the Dubai 2019 World Championships

Parapan American Games

Gold in the long jump T47 at Lima 2019

Gold in the long jump T47 at Santiago 2023

Gold in the 100m T47 at Santiago 2023