Gerson Pozo, a 17-year-old Spanish athlete of evangelical faith, was proclaimed Under 20 400 meters Spanish champion on 7 March. With a time of 47.20, he became the second best Spanish athlete of all time in that category.

“There is a lot of effort behind every training, and the support of my trainer, my team and my family. These marks are very important because they put you in the European and world rankings”, Pozo told Spanish news website Actualidad Evangélica.

His victory “motivates me to go on and try to make even better marks. It is a pressure as well, because now people expect more from me, but that is good”.

Pozo recalled that when he was a little boy he liked to play football, but his father was a runner. When he was 6 years old, he participated in the regional evangelical Olympics in Madrid, a sporting activity organised by local churches of the region. Since then, he realised that he liked athletics very much and started to train, first just for fun, and in the last 2 years more seriously.

“With the help of God and my trainer, I know I can achieve my goals”

“Now I train around 10 hours a week. It is hard, but I really enjoy it. I have big goals that, with the help of God and my trainer, I know I can achieve”, points out Pozo.

Those next goals are the 400 meters at U20 European championship in Estonia in July and the World championship in Kenya next August. It will be the fist time that he participates individually in international competitions.

Gerson is also planning to go to the United States next year, to start his university studies in the state of Texas and continue training, “which is a great opportunity to grow as an athlete”.

The Olympics “are very difficult right now, I am just 18, but I work every year to be better. Olympics are my dream, but now I focus on my category and in the future we will see what doors God opens”.

“Athletics helps me to be a better child of God”

Faith is central in the life of the Spanish champion. When he participated in the U18 Spanish competition last year, he asked his parents permission to get a tattoo. It shows a wing on each ankle with the letters alpha and omega in Greek.

“It has a special meaning for me, it is a reminder that everything has a beginning and an end. Not matter how difficult a moment in our lives may be, God is always there for us. He has promised us that He will not give us anything that we cannot handle, and that with Him by our side we can be strong”, stressed Pozo.

The tattoo also gives him “opportunities to talk with others about the gospel naturally, without the negative connotations that religion has today”.

According to Pozo, athletics helps him “to be a better child of God, because it has taught me to be strong, to be constant. You cannot expect to be a great athlete with just one or two trainings, and you cannot expect to have a good relationship with God, if you only read the Bible and pray on Sundays”.

“It is difficult sometimes, but everything has a purpose on the long term. We are not sacrificing anything, Jesus sacrificed for us, so that to honor Him and show Him our love, we need to invest our free time in Him”, he concluded.