Emerson Esnal Hernández (born 29 January 1989) is a Salvadoran race walker. He began racing after a team of sports recruiters selected his best friend to try out, Hernández accompanied his friend, and one of the coaches at the try out noticed him. He represented El Salvador in the 50 km race walk at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Biography Emerson Esnal Hernández was born in San Salvador, El Salvador on 29 January 1989, one of seven children of Juana Dolores Hernández. Hernández became involved with the sport of race walking when a group from the National Sports Institute of El Salvador visited his school looking for recruits. The team recruited Hernández's best friend Rafael Avalos, and Hernández accompanied him because Rafael was shy. They were taken to a stadium, where Hernández was noticed by a coach and entered training in athletics.
At age 13 Hernández began to train with coach Rafael Cerna, and only five months after beginning training Hernández won first place in a cross country race. By 2003 he had qualified for the World Junior Championships and in 2005 won a gold medal in the El Salvador National Championships. In the 2007 Pan American Race Walking Cup, he took 4th place in the Junior Men's 10 km race walk. During the early years of his athletic career, he continued his academic studies and in 2008 he graduated with a B.A. in psychology from the Instituto Nacional Alberto Masferrer de la Zacamil. At the 2008 World Youth Athletics Championship, Hernández and his coach were involved in a controversy when the runners in Hernández' race were provided with carbonated water rather than uncarbonated water. Hernández and his coach claimed that this led to nausea, stomach cramps, and dizziness, and led to his withdrawal from the race.
He qualified for the 2010 Central American Games in Puerto Rico, but withdrew due to injury, and in the same year finished 24th in the 50 km race walk at the World Cup in Chihuahua, Mexico. As of 2012, he was ranked 54th in the world in the 50 km runwalk. During the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, he finished in 6th place, eight minutes behind the 5th-place finisher. Hernández qualified to represent El Salvador in the 2012 Olympic Games in London in the 50 km race walk, and traveled to Italy prior to the games for training. There, he has been coached by experienced Italian race walking coach Sandro Damilano, who has trained a number of Chinese and Italian athletes for the Olympics. As of 2012, he was ranked 50th in the world in the 50 km event, and was the highest ranking Salvadoran race walker. At the 2012 Olympics, he finished in 26th place with a new personal best time of 3:53:57.
Personal bests Track walk 10,000 m: 42:17.56 min – Philadelphia, United States, 26 April 2014
Road walk 10 km: 43:10 min – San Salvador, El Salvador, 3 February 2007 20 km: 1:26:34 hrs – Sesto San Giovanni, Italy, 1 May 2013 50 km: 3:53:57 hrs – London, United Kingdom, 11 August 2012
Achievements Representing the 2004Central American Youth ChampionshipsSan José, Costa Rica —5000 m track walkDNFCentral American and Caribbean Junior ChampionshipsCoatzacoalcos, Mexico —5000 m track walkDNF2005World Youth ChampionshipsMarrakesh, Morocco11th10,000 m track walk46:35.342006World Junior ChampionshipsBeijing, China18th10,000 m track walk46:23.202007Central American Race Walking Cup - JuniorGuatemala City, Guatemala1st10 km road walk44:33Pan American Race Walking Cup - JuniorBalneário Camboriú, Brazil4th10 km road walk44:30Central American Junior ChampionshipsSan Salvador, El Salvador1st10,000 m track walk44:05.79Central American ChampionshipsSan José, Costa Rica5th20,000 m track walk1:31:01.08Pan American Junior ChampionshipsSão Paulo, Brazil —10,000 m track walkDQ2008World Race Walking Cup - JuniorCheboksary, Russia18th10 km road walk43:18Central American Race Walking Cup - JuniorPanama City, Panama1st10 km road walk47:07.3World Junior ChampionshipsBydgoszcz, Poland —10,000 m track walkDNFCentral American Junior ChampionshipsSan Salvador, El Salvador1st10,000 m track walk43:38.082009Central American Race Walking CupSan Salvador, El Salvador5th20 km road walk1:30:28Pan American Race Walking CupSan Salvador, El Salvador —50 km road walkDNF2010World Race Walking CupChihuahua, Mexico24th50 km road walk4:06:47Ibero-American ChampionshipsSan Fernando, Spain —20,000 m walkDNFCentral American and Caribbean GamesMayagüez, Puerto Rico —50 km road walkDNF2011Central American Race Walking CupSan Salvador, El Salvador1st35 km road walk2:48:30World ChampionshipsDaegu, South Korea36th20 km road walk1:30:48Pan American GamesGuadalajara, Mexico6th50 km road walk4:12:532012Olympic GamesLondon, United Kingdom27th50 km road walk3:53:572013World ChampionshipsMoscow, Russia —50 km road walkDQ2014World Race Walking CupTaicang, China90th20 km road walk1:29:57
References
External links
Tilastopaja biography