Pedro Afonso (born 10 January 2007) is a Portuguese sprinter. He ran in the Portuguese 4 x 400 metres relay team who were finalists at the 2025 World Championships and set a new national record. He is the national under-20 record holder for the 200 metres and 400 metres. He was a silver medalist at the 2025 European Athletics U20 Championships.[1]
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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| Born | 10 January 2007 | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||
Event | Sprint | ||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | 200m: 20.66 (2025) NU20R 400m: 45.78 (2025) NU20R | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Biography
editA Sport Lisboa e Benfica athlete based in Lisbon,[2] he ran as part of the Portuguese men's 4 x100 metres sprint relay team which set a new national under-18 record of 41.79 seconds in Huelva in June 2023.[3]
He competed for Portugal in the 200 metres at the 2024 European Athletics U18 Championships in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, qualified fastest from the preliminary heats with a time of 21.31 (+0.4m/s) although he was unable to complete his semi-final race after suffering an injury.[4][5][6]
In June 2025, he set a new Portuguese under-20 record for the 200 metres, and moved into the top-ten of the Portuguese all-time list when he ran 20.78 seconds (wind: 0.0 m/s), breaking the previous record which had stood since 1985 by Luís Barroso.[7] He lowered it further later that month in Mannheim, Germany, running 20.68 seconds.[8] The following month, he won Portuguese under-20 titles in both the 200 metres and the 400 metres with times of 20.66 and 45.78 respectively.[9]
He chose to concentrate only on the 200 metres races at the 2025 European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland.[10] He won his preliminary heat in 21.24 seconds (-1.06) and his semi-final in 20.74 seconds (-2.4), before winning the silver medal in the final behind Diego Nappi of Italy in with 20.85 seconds into a strong headwind (-2.9).[11][12] He also competed in the men’s 4 x 100 metres relay at the championships.[13]
He ran in the men's 4 x 400 metres relay for Portugal at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, helping the team qualify for the final with a national record time of 2:59.70, running alongside Omar Elkhatib, João Coelho and Ericsson Tavares, the first time a Portuguese team had run under three minutes.[14][15]
In February 2026, Afonso placed third overall in his first race over 400 metres indoors, at the Sparkassen Indoor Meeting Dortmund, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Bronze meeting, running 46.49.[16] In March 2026, he ran in the men's 4 x 400 metres relay at the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships, as the Portuguese team placed fifth in the final.[17]
Competing at the 2026 World Athletics Relays in Botswana, he was part of the Portugal men's 4 x 400 metres relay team which set a national record of 2:59.01 on the opening day.[18][19]
References
edit- ↑ "Pedro Afonso". World Athletics. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
- ↑ "Pedro Afonso wins silver". slbenfica. 9 August 2025. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
- ↑ "PORTUGAL'S 14-YEAR-OLD RECORD FALLS IN HUELVA". fpatletismo.pt. 6 June 2023. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
- ↑ "Virjonen takes charge in the heptathlon with monster javelin throw". European Athletics. 19 July 2024. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
- ↑ "European Athletics U18 Championships". World Athletics. 20 July 2024. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
- ↑ "European Under-20 Athletics Championships: Pedro Afonso wins silver in the 200 meters". Ojogo.pt. 9 August 2025. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
- ↑ "Pedro Afonso Breaks National Record at 39 Years Old". fpatletismo.pt. 7 June 2025. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
- ↑ Sequeira, Manuel (30 June 2025). "Pedro Afonso breaks national U-20 record for 200m in Germany". Revistaatletismo. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
- ↑ Mills, Steven (28 July 2025). "10 days to Tampere 2025! Hallberg Hossain and Lampinen impress at Nordic U20 Championships". European Athletics. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
- ↑ "10 to watch at the European Athletics U20 Championships". European Athletics. 31 July 2025. Retrieved 8 August 2025.
- ↑ "Italy's Nappi and Germany's Mokobe take 200m titles". European Athletics. 9 August 2025. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
- ↑ "European Athletics U20 Championships". World Athletics. 8 August 2025. Retrieved 8 August 2025.
- ↑ "Pedro Afonso Silver Medal in 200 meters from the U-20 Europeans of Athletics". lnginnorthernbc.ca. 9 August 2025. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
- ↑ "World Athletics Championships, Tokyo 2025". World Athletics. 21 Sep 2025. Retrieved 21 September 2025.
- ↑ "Portugal qualifies for the men's 4x400m final and Brazil, with Alison dos Santos, is disqualified from the 2025 World Athletics Championships". Olympics.com. 20 Sep 2025. Retrieved 21 Sep 2025.
- ↑ Trapnell, Jasmine (8 Feb 2026). "Swoboda battles to 60m victory and Moe Berg dominates again in Dortmund". European Athletics. Retrieved 9 Feb 2026.
- ↑ "World Athletics Indoor Championships". World Athletics. 22 March 2026. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
- ↑ "World leads fall as 4x400m teams light up first round in Gaborone". World Athletics. 2 May 2026. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
- ↑ "World Athletics Relays". World Athletics. 2 May 2026. Retrieved 2 May 2026.