Maldivian sprinter Ru'ya breaks 200m junior national record

Maldivian sprinter Mariyam Ru'ya Ali broke the 200m junior national record at the Jamaica Nationals held in Kingston on Tuesday, by completing the race in an impressive time of 25.59 seconds.

In April, Ru'ya broke the 22 year old 100m junior national record at the Velocity Fest held in Jamaica. The previous 200m junior record was held by Ahna Nizar, who had set the record during last year's Association Championships with a time of 25.77 seconds.

Ru'ya is currently training in Jamaica as a recipient of the Bank of Maldives (BML) scholarship. She is training at Jamaica's Racers Track Club, which is also the training ground of the world-renowned sprinter, Usain Bolt.

Ru'ya's journey in athletics began in 2013 when she started competing while attending Jamaluddin School. She went on to represent Villa International High School and achieved significant accolades. She won the title of under 19 Best Female Athlete at the Makita Junior Championship held in Gaaf Dhaal atoll Thinadhoo last year. Ru'ya also went on to earn the title of Best Female Athlete at the Grand Prix held in the Maldives.

Ru'ya made her debut representing Maldives in an international competition at the Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham in August 2022. Following which she participated in the Asian Under-18 Youth Championship held in Kuwait in October.

In addition to her previous international competitions, Ru'ya represented Maldives at the 10th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships held in Kazakhstan in February 2023. During the event, Ru'ya achieved another remarkable feat by breaking Ahna Nizar's national record in the 60m event. Ruya completed the race in an impressive time of 7.66 seconds, surpassing Ahna's previous record of 7.89 seconds.