| Laura Mèndez | |
| Full Name: | Laura Mèndez Esquer |
| Nationality: | Spanish |
| Sport: | Track and Field |
| Birth Date: | 6 November 1988 |
| Birth Place: | Valencia, Spain |
| Height: | 160 cm |
| Weight: | 46 kg |
| Event: | 3000m, 5000m, 10,000m, marathon |
Laura Méndez Esquer (born 6 November 1988 in Valencia) is a Spanish long distance runner.
Mendez was the Spanish junior champion in the 3000m indoors in 2007 and runner-up in the senior Spanish Championship at the 3000m indoors in 2015. She was selected to represent Spain in the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland in 2020.[1] In April 2021 she ran her debut marathon in Enschede, Netherlands and achieved the qualifying standard for the delayed 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in her first ever competitive marathon. Mèndez competed in Tokyo but did not finish the Olympic marathon course.[2] In May 2022, Mèndez won the Spanish national championship 10k race setting a new national record time of 33.15.[3]
She was selected for the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome in June 2024.[4]
| Representing | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | World Half Marathon Championships | Gdynia, Poland | 61st | Half marathon | 1:12:58 | |
| 2021 | Olympic Games | Sapporo, Japan | - | Marathon | DNF | |
| 2022 | Ibero-American Championships | Torrevieja, Spain | 6th | Half marathon | 1:14:51 | |
| European Championships | Munich, Germany | 32nd | Marathon | 2:39:15 | ||
| 2024 | European Championships | Rome, Italy | 58th | Half marathon | 1:16:28 | |