Yago Rojo
“I really connect with the phrase Time To Fly. For me, it means the time to give all I have when a competition arrives. It tells me it’s hammer time!” A passion for distance running and performance runs through the veins of HOKA athlete Yago Rojo. The 27-year-old marathon runner from Madrid lives and breathes the sport. If Yago isn’t lapping the Casa de Campo in Madrid where he has trained since childhood, then you will find him putting in the kilometres at the Centro de Alto Rendimiento in Sierra Nevada. A pinch of talent and buckets of dedication have taken Yago a long way since his early years in the sport. From cross country and middle distance on the track to 10,000m and half marathon on the roads, it is at the marathon distance now where Yago is excelling.
After running inside 2 hours and 10 minutes on his debut in Valencia in 2020, it was Yago’s performance in the same city a year later that really captured the attention. The Madrileño took exactly one minute off his best to finish in 2:08:56 – and with it closed the year ranked 11th in Europe. “That race in Valencia last year is my greatest achievement to date,” says Yago, who also notes “stubbornness” as his biggest weakness. It’s this same stubborn streak though that is also perhaps his biggest weapon and ensures he always leaves it all out on the road and track.
“That race in Valencia last year is my greatest achievement to date,”
“My biggest inspiration is Fernando Alonso [Formula One champion in 2005 and 2006],” says Yago. “He has been my idol since I was a child. He never gives up and always keeps pushing despite adversity and that is something I admire and try to replicate.” Yago will return to the track later this month when he pulls on the La Roja singlet and his HOKA Cielo X LD spikes for the European 10,000m Cup. Racing 25 laps of the track is a rather different challenge to clocking 26.2 miles on the road. But Yago’s mental toughness will come in handy as he prepares to face the cream of European talent on Saturday 28 May. “I’m very proud to have the opportunity to run for my country again,” adds Yago, who will be racing for the fourth consecutive time in the European Cup competition. Shooting for team gold, Yago is likely to celebrate a positive result by eating a paella with his family after the race. It won’t be too long before he pulls on the Spanish vest again and turns his attentions to a major championship marathon this summer. Yago has been selected to run at the European Athletics Championships in Munich in August and will no doubt seize the opportunity with the same heart that he has shown in his career so far. Yago signed with HOKA in January 2022 and remembers the first time he tried the unique plush HOKA cushion and meta-rocker technology.
“My first experience trying HOKA was the Clifton 8 – and I freaked out, I had never felt anything like it before."
