Waleska Soto Explained

Waleska Soto
Full Name:Ana Waleska Soto Abril
Nationality:Guatemalan
Other Interests:Pilot and a Sports Psychologist
Country:Guatemala
Sport:Sports shooting
Rank:19
Birth Date:14 August 1990
Birth Place:Guatemala City, Guatemala[1]
Height:1.65 m[2]
Coach:Pedro Martin Fariza

Ana Waleska Soto Abril (born 14 August 1990) is a Guatemalan sport shooter and former softball player.[3] She competed in the women's trap event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[4] She qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics by winning the gold medal at the 2024 CAT Shotgun Championship in Santo Domingo.

Waleska Soto started out as a softball player, winning a bronze medal with the Guatemalan national team at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games in Puerto Rico,[1] although she learned the sport of shooting as a teenager through a summer camp.[5] She earned a scholarship to play softball at Martin Methodist College in the United States,[6] where she began shooting again.[1]

Soto competed in both sports at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games, winning a silver medal in the women's trap event. She won a bronze medal in the same event at the 2017 Bolivarian Games, and placed fourth at the 2019 Pan American Games to qualify for the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics. She won Gold at the 2022 Bolivarian Games, celebrated in Valledupar. She won the Silver medal at the 2023 Central American and the Caribbean Games. The same year, she won Silver at the 2023 Pan American Games. In 2024, Soto won the Gold medal at the 2024 CAT Shotgun Championship in Santo Domingo.

On 3 July, 2024, the Guatemalan Olympic Committee chose Soto and badminton player Kevin Cordón to be the country’s flag bearers at the 2024 Summer Olympics.[7]

Notes and References

  1. News: Biografía de Waleska Soto, tiradora guatemalteca. Guatemala.com. 22 April 2021. 29 July 2021. es.
  2. News: Waleska Soto, Directo Al Sueño Olímpico. Guatemalan Olympic Committee. 9 November 2020. 29 July 2021. es.
  3. Web site: Ana Waleska Soto . Olympedia . 29 July 2021.
  4. Web site: Shooting - Qualification - Day 1 Results . Tokyo 2020 . 29 July 2021 . 29 July 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210729112618/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/shooting/results-trap-women-qual-000100-.htm . dead .
  5. News: El tiro y sóftbol, las dos disciplinas que marcan la historia de Waleska Soto. ESPN Deportes. Rodrigo. García. 29 June 2020. 29 July 2021. es.
  6. Web site: Ana Waleska Soto Abril. Tokyo 2020. 29 July 2021.
  7. News: Ordonez. Oscar. 3 July 2024. Kevin Cordón y Waleska Soto abanderados de Guatemala para Juegos Olímpicos París 2024. Kevin Cordón and Waleska Soto, Guatemala's flag bearers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Spanish. Prensa Libre. Guatemala City, Guatemala.