Paternain: three passports, one green card and an unexpected bronze medal

When Julia Paternain crossed the finish line of the women’s marathon at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25, she was not thinking about medals.

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She was not even sure she had finished the race.

“I was terrified that wasn’t the finish,” she said later, laughing at her own disbelief. “I still thought maybe there was another 400 metres to go. I could not believe it. One of the officials had to tell me I was done.”

What she also did not know in that moment was that she had just rewritten Uruguay’s sporting history. In only her second marathon, the 25-year-old finished third in 2:27:23, claiming the country’s first ever medal at a senior global championships.

She did so in the stifling Tokyo heat, coming within 14 seconds of her personal best and national record of 2:27:09, a mark she set on her debut. Only two of the greatest distance runners of this era were able to beat her: Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir, the Olympic champion in 2021, and Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa, the marathon world record-holder and Olympic silver medallist. For a runner ranked 288th in the world entering the race, it was unthinkable.

Her story, though, is not only about a medal. Paternain is an athlete whose life stretches across continents, accents and allegiances.

“T have three passports and a green card,” she explained. “I was born in Mexico, my whole family is from Uruguay, and I grew up in England from the age of two. I’ve run for Great Britain before, at the European U23 Championships, and now I run for Uruguay.”

The decision to switch allegiances this year was more personal than political. After the race, she put it simply: 'mi sangre es uruguaya' (my blood is Uruguayan). Her parents were born there, many family members still live in Uruguay, and she grew up spending holidays in Montevideo, running around Parque Rodo.

“T don’t like mate,” she laughed, referencing the traditional herbal drink. “That’s the one thing — but apart from that, I'm Uruguayan.”