Omara Durand Elías

Cuban athlete with a disability, category T 13 (visually impaired). Specialist in 100, 200 and 400 meters, she is a parapan american champion, paralympic champion and world record holder.

In 2018 she was elected deputy to the National Assembly of the People's Power of Cuba.

From a young age she was drawn to practicing athletics in primary school and later at the ESPA (Provincial School of Athletic Excellence).

Licensed in Physical Culture, she joined the national pre-selection in 2007.

2007-2008
In 2007, at only 15 years old she participated in the World Championship for the Blind and Visually Impaired, held in São Paulo, Brazil where she won titles in 100 and 200 meters. That year she would also become parapan american champion in Rio de Janeiro.

At only 16 years old she was the favorite to win the Beijing Paralympics, but suffered a myofibril rupture in her right thigh that led to gaps in training and arrival at the venue far from optimal condition. To make matters worse, while running the 400 at the Bird's Nest she suffered a muscle strain that affected her psychologically and prevented her from reaching the podium.

2011-2012
On January 26, 2011 she achieved the gold medal in the 200 meters in the T-13 category of the World Athletics Championship for the Blind, Visually Impaired and Physically Limited in Christchurch, New Zealand, with a time of 24.24 seconds to break the universal record of 24.45, set by American Marla Runyan in 1995; she also broke the quota for the event of 25.56 seconds, achieved by Russian Olga Tchourkina in 1994.

That same year she broke the world record in the 100 meters flat T-13 category during the athletics competitions of the IV Parapan American Games Guadalajara 2011, when she stopped the clock at 11.99 seconds, becoming the first woman in her category to break the 12-second barrier. The previous world record was held by American Marla Runyan, 12.28 seconds, set on January 1, 1996 in Irvine, United States. In the final she decisively defeated her rivals.

Her paralympic redemption came on September 3, 2012 when she won the gold medal in the 400 meters T-13 (visually impaired) at the London 2012 Paralympics XIV London 2012 Paralympic Games, with a time of 55.12 seconds, a paralympic record, the Santiago native was crowned despite being placed to start from an unfavorable lane eight on the track of the London Olympic Stadium. Three days later on September 6 she won her second gold medal with a time of 12 seconds in the 100 meters flat, T13 category (visually impaired), and came just one hundredth of a second short of her world record, achieved at the IV Parapan American Games in Guadalajara 2011.

2013-2016
On August 10, 2015 she won the gold medal in the 100 meters, T12 category with a time of 11.86 seconds, setting a world record at the V Parapan American Games in Toronto, Canada. On August 12 she secured her second gold medal, in the 400m T12 with a time of 56.96 seconds. On August 14 in her fifth consecutive day of competition and despite a slight pain in her left thigh Durand picked up the pace 50 meters from the finish line to achieve the historic time of 23.67 which constituted a new record and her third title in this competition.

Completely in a league of her own, on October 23 she wins the gold medal, setting a record with a time of 53.05 seconds in the 400 meters, T 12 category at the World Athletics Championship for the Disabled in Doha, Qatar. On October 25 she secured her second gold medal in this event, with a new world record of 23.03 seconds in the 200 meters, T 12 category (profoundly visually impaired), lowering the mark set the previous day in the heats of 23.38 seconds, at the Suhhaim Bin Hamad stadium.

On October 28 at that same venue she wins her third gold medal and fourth world record in the 100m T12 (profoundly visually impaired) with a time of 11.48 seconds, better than her previous world record of 11.65, achieved last August at the V Parapan American Games Toronto 2015, Canada, joining the list of multi-medalists who have shone the most on the track of the Suhaim Bin Hamad stadium.

At the Paralympic Games held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in September 2016 she won the gold medal and set a world record with a time of 11.40 seconds at the Joao Havelange Olympic Stadium in a 100m T12 (profoundly visually impaired) competition preceded by records in the heats and semifinals of the Games, confirming herself as the fastest disabled woman in the world by improving the 11.48 that gave her the title in the capital of Qatar.

On September 12 once again with a paralympic record of 23.05 seconds, the Cuban sprinter won the gold medal in the 200 meters T12 category (profoundly visually impaired), her second title in the athletics of the Rio 2016 event. On September 17 she won in the 400 meters final with a world record by timing 51.77 seconds.

2017-2020
On July 19 she won her first gold medal at the World Parathletics Championship in London, Great Britain, by winning the 100 meters T12 category (profoundly visually impaired). Previously she had secured the 200 and 400 meters flat, but received no awards due to the low number of entries. The Cuban made 11.52 seconds in the last event on Tuesday at the Queen Elizabeth Park Olympic Stadium.

As part of her preparation for the Lima 2019 Parapan American Games she participated in the Parathletics Grand Prix in Bydgoszcz, Poland. In that competition she won the 100 and 200 meters and achieved the qualifying marks necessary to be in Lima.

She was part of the team that represented Cuba at the Parapan American Games, Lima 2019, in which she won the gold medal in the 200 meters of the T12 category (profoundly visually impaired) with a time of 23.67 seconds. Two days later she won the 100 meters in that category with 11.76 seconds, her best time of the season, and finally closed with her third title, running the 400 meters T12 (profoundly visually impaired) in 52.51 seconds, a new parapan american record and quite close to the 51.77 that has been the world record since the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Paralympic Games.

Awards and Recognition
- 2011: Special Mention in the survey sponsored by INDER and specialized press in sports for the disabled in 2011.

- 2012: Selected in the annual survey conducted jointly by the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation and the Circle of Sports Journalists of the Union of Cuban Journalists as the best female athlete of the year in sports for the disabled.

- 2014: Selected among the 10 most outstanding athletes of 2014 in Cuba.

- 2015: She was selected by the specialized press and INDER as the best athlete in sports for the disabled in Cuba in 2015.

- 2015 - She was selected in seventh place among the 50 best moments in sport in 2015 recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

- 2016: Among athletes with disabilities, she won the award for best absolute athlete of 2016 and the most popular, according to a survey conducted by mobile telephony by the Desoft Company.

- 2016: Nominated for the second consecutive year among a list of six athletes in the paralympic movement to compete as the best athlete of the year at the Laureus Awards ceremony.

- 2017: On April 11, 2017 she received from Dr.C. Antonio Becali, president of INDER, and his deputy Roberto León Richards, the Juan Antonio Samaranch award from the International Olympic Committee awarded to athletes with disabilities by the United States Sports Academy.

- 2017: On September 6, 2017 she received the award as the best female athlete at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Paralympic Games during the gala on the occasion of the 18th General Assembly of the worldwide organization for sports for people with disabilities.

- 2017: Selected in the traditional INDER voting and specialized press as the best female athlete in sports for the disabled of 2017 in Cuba.

- 2017: Selected as the best among the visually impaired in Santiago de Cuba in 2017.

- 2018: In 2018 she was selected to represent Cuba at the Summit of the Peoples, to be held in Lima, Peru.

- 2018: Elected as the best female athlete of Cuba in sports for the disabled, in 2018.

-2019: Selected to leave her handprints at the installation of the 6 Parapan American Games, Lima 2019