Eliani Arletis Casi Reyes

Cuban National Champion | 400m Specialist | International Competitor

Eliani Arletis Casi Reyes is a remarkable 400-metre runner from Cuba whose journey through athletics exemplifies resilience, determination, and an unwavering love for the sport. From training barefoot on dirt tracks in Havana to competing at international championships, Casi’s story is one of overcoming adversity and rediscovering her athletic dreams across continents.

Athletic Achievements

Cuban National Success

Cuban National Champion – 400 Metres

• Dominated her age category in Cuba, rising to become national champion in the 400m
• Won multiple combined events championships in Havana during her early athletic career
• Bronze Medal at the Cuban National Championships (2022) with a time of 55.15

Cuban National Record Holder

• Mixed 4x400m Relay National Record: 3:18.39 (March 12, 2022)
• Set alongside teammates Reinel Pintado, Rose M. Almanza, and Leonardo R. Castillo

International Competition

Ibero-American Championships (Alicante 2022)

• Selected to represent Cuba at the 19th Ibero-American Championships
• Competed against Olympic medalists and world champions from across Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula

Spanish National Achievements

Spanish National Champion

• Gold Medal in 4x400m relay at Spanish National Championships (La Nucía 2019) with Playas de Castellón
• Silver Medal in 4x400m relay at Spanish National Championships (Getafe 2020) with Atlético San Sebastián
• LaLigaSports Cup Champion (2019) – delivered decisive victory in 4x400m relay

Regional Championships

• La Rioja Regional Champion – 400m (2017, 2018)
• La Rioja Regional Champion – 400m hurdles (2017)
• Runner-up in 400m hurdles (2018)

Spanish Division of Honor

• Runner-up in 4x400m relay with Playas de Castellón in Liga Iberdrola División de Honor (2017/2018)

Personal Bests & Rankings

Casi has achieved impressive times across multiple sprint events:

• 400 Metres: 53.56 (June 13, 2021) – elite international standard
• 400 Metres Short Track (indoor): 54.40 (February 26, 2022)
• Mixed 4x400m Relay: 3:18.39 (national record)
• 200 Metres: Also competes in the 200m
• 300 Metres: Versatile across all sprint distances

Her progression from 58.16 when she returned to athletics in Spain to breaking 54 seconds demonstrates extraordinary dedication and rapid improvement in just a few years of consistent training.

Competitive Range

Casi’s versatility as a sprinter extends across multiple events:

• 400 Metres (primary event)
• 400 Metres Hurdles
• 200 Metres
• 300 Metres
• 4×400 Metres Relay
• 4×400 Metres Mixed Relay

Early Life & Athletic Origins

Family Background

Born in Havana, Cuba, Casi is the youngest of four sisters in a deeply athletic family. Her mother was a volleyball player and her father a baseball player, creating a household where sports were valued and encouraged. Her mother had a particular vision that athletics would be the perfect sport for her youngest daughter.

The Fateful Race

At age seven, Casi’s true passion was dance, not athletics. When her mother insisted she try track and field, young Eliani made what she thought was a clever deal: she would race against experienced young athletes her age, and if she won, she would pursue athletics—but if she lost, she could continue with dance. Confident that experienced runners would easily defeat her, she agreed to the challenge.

What happened next changed the course of her life. Her natural competitive spirit and undiscovered athletic talent led her to defeat all her rivals in that first race. Casi had inadvertently won her own bet and, true to her word, committed herself to athletics instead of dance. This fateful race revealed an athlete who didn’t yet know she was born to run.

Development in Cuba

Within her first two years in athletics, Casi won combined events championships in Havana, with the 400m emerging as her specialty. Her talent caught the attention of representatives from the EIDE Mártires de Barbados (Escuelas de Iniciación Deportiva Escolar – Schools of Scholastic Sports Initiation), Cuba’s prestigious sports development schools.

After passing entrance exams with strong marks, she joined the EIDE where she trained under coach María Fela Torres Blanco for five formative years. During this period, she ascended to the pinnacle of Cuban athletics in her category, becoming national champion in the 400m.

Training Through Adversity

Casi’s early athletic career was marked by extreme poverty, yet she remembers those years as among the happiest of her life. She trained barefoot on dirt tracks because she couldn’t afford athletic shoes, ran in taped-together old shoes during competitions, and wore no proper athletic clothing. The daily routine was spartan: water with sugar and bread with butter for breakfast, rice with beans and ground meat for lunch, rice with beans and chicken for dinner—the same meals every single day.

When she finally won the Cuban National Championship, she received her first proper athletic gear and spike shoes—white Adidas with orange stripes. She stared at them in wonder, unsure how to even use them. Tragically, they were stolen within a week. Despite having no gym facility and having to run to another center for any weight training, Casi looks back on this period fondly: “The poverty helps you value everything much more and want to improve.”

Journey to Spain & Athletic Rebirth

Life Changes

At age 14, Casi left both athletics and Cuba behind, moving to Mexico. For six years, she didn’t practice any sport, instead traveling the world and visiting several countries including Spain. At age 20, she settled in Spain, making the Rioja region her home. She arrived alone, knowing no one, and no one knew of her athletic past.

Rediscovering Athletics

During the process of applying for Spanish residency, fate intervened once again. Someone informed her that the Club Añares Rioja was seeking monitors to train their athletics school programs. “Nobody here knew that I had done athletics. They could have asked for any other sport… but it was athletics. It was a coincidence. I never thought I would return to athletics again.”

Casi accepted the position and began coaching youth athletes at Añares. Like many great athletes before her, it was a perceptive coach who recognized untapped potential. Coach Eusebio González observed Casi jogging with the children she trained and saw athletic qualities that shouldn’t go to waste. He invited her to train as an athlete herself, not just a coach.

Initially, she declined, believing that at 22 she was “too old” for competitive athletics by Cuban standards. But after discussing it with a friend, she decided to train with Eusebio—just as a hobby to stay in shape.

Training Barefoot in Spain

Even in Spain, Casi initially trained barefoot with the children because that’s what she was accustomed to. “People here were amazed, wondering where I had come from. I told everyone that in Cuba we train barefoot. All the running technique and training is done without shoes. Here now I have 6 pairs of athletics shoes; in Cuba I didn’t have even one. My parents in Cuba think I’m rich.”

Return to Competition

Without much ambition beyond fitness, she began training as an athlete just two months before the La Rioja Regional Outdoor Championships in 2016/2017. On June 3, 2017, came her first triumph in Spain: she became absolute regional champion of La Rioja in the 400m with a time of 58.16. Two weeks later, she ran 57.27 in Ciudad Real during the Spanish Autonomous Federations Championship. That same year she doubled up, also winning the 400m hurdles regional title.

“That motivated me. Running 57.27 when I had just started wasn’t bad at all,” she recalls.

Career in Spain

Coaching & Training Evolution

Casi continued training, though only on weekdays as she worked practically the entire weekend, holding up to four different jobs on Saturdays and Sundays. “I loved training with Use [Eusebio]. I think he’s a great coach. He always took great care of me.” However, her training group didn’t have other women her age running the 400m, so she often trained alone.

She then noticed coach Héctor Barrasa, who had athletes her age training for the 200m and 400m in his group. “Héctor gave me the opportunity to be in his group and I’ve improved a lot. I’m super happy. Training with Sara Gómez and Ghaita El Jarraz, who both do 400m, has been great for me.” This coaching partnership, along with training alongside quality competitors, unlocked new levels of performance.

Club Career

Playas de Castellón (2017-2020)

• Runner-up in 4x400m relay, Liga Iberdrola División de Honor
• Spanish National Champion in 4x400m relay (2019)
• LaLigaSports Cup Champion in 4x400m relay (2019)

Atlético San Sebastián (2020-present)

• Spanish National Runner-up in 4x400m relay (2020)
• Continues to represent the club while maintaining strong ties to La Rioja

Overcoming Life-Threatening Illness

In 2018, Casi faced the biggest scare of her life. During the Spanish Championships in Getafe, she experienced severe lumbar pain that made breathing difficult. Medical staff dismissed it as a muscle contracture. The pain returned repeatedly, and she visited emergency services three times without receiving proper attention.

During a training session, the pain and breathing difficulty returned. This time she went to sports physician Dr. Vicente Elías at the CTD Adarraga, who was the first to suspect a pulmonary injury and sent her immediately back to emergency services. After thorough examination, she was admitted with a pulmonary embolism stemming from a congenital chronic condition she never knew she had. Additionally, doctors discovered sequelae from three previous pulmonary infarctions.

“Thanks to Vicente Elías, I’m perhaps here to tell this story,” she reflects. For a year, she injected herself with blood thinners three times daily. Yet she returned to competition, demonstrating the resilience that has defined her entire athletic journey.

Pandemic Challenges

The 2020 pandemic lockdown was particularly difficult for Casi. “I took it badly. For me it was quite hard because, in addition to living alone, I love sports and need to train. I’m a very nervous person and I need to go running. I didn’t have a roller or treadmill and I did exercises that Héctor sent me. It was very hard. The first day they let us out, I went into the street like horses when you open their gate… running wild.”

Personal Life & Character

Work Ethic & Gratitude

Throughout her athletic resurgence in Spain, Casi has worked multiple jobs to support herself. She expresses deep gratitude to her employer Luis Fernández at the ‘Noche y Día’ café on Calle Portales in Logroño, who adapted her work schedule to accommodate her training and competitions. “Thanks to him I’ve been able to train all year and will be able to train for what’s left of the season, especially in summer when there’s the most work. They don’t do that just anywhere and I’m very grateful.”

She also remains deeply thankful to the Atlético San Sebastián club, her training environment, her coach Héctor Barrasa for dedicating so much time to her and the training group, and the people of La Rioja who welcomed her with open arms.

Identity & Home

After four years residing in Spain, Casi was preparing for Spanish nationality, needing only to complete the citizenship exam. “Even though I was born in Cuba, I feel Riojana and I don’t want to move from here. I love La Rioja, its people, its food… everything. I’ve been very well received here. I’m Cuban by nature but Riojana at heart.”

She hasn’t returned to Cuba in over five years, though she has desire to visit. Her parents in Cuba, seeing her with multiple pairs of athletic shoes and proper equipment, joke that their daughter must be rich now.

Aspirations & Dreams

While representing Cuba at the Olympics was within reach—she was just one second away from the Olympic qualifying standard in the 400m—Casi’s greatest dream wasn’t Olympic glory. “The Olympics is every athlete’s dream, mine too, but my biggest hope would be to participate in a Diamond League and be with the great athletes from around the world.”

This humble aspiration speaks to her genuine love of the sport and desire simply to compete alongside the best, not necessarily for medals but for the pure joy of running at the highest level.

Philosophy & Outlook

Casi never loses her smile, even when recalling difficult memories. “Poverty helps you value everything much more and want to improve,” she reflects. Her optimism, work ethic, and appreciation for every opportunity define her character. She approaches each day with gratitude for the second chance athletics has given her and the new life she has built in Spain.

Current Status & Future

Casi continues to train at the highest level while working to support herself, embodying the modern athlete who balances elite performance with everyday responsibilities. She has returned to representing Cuba in international competition, having traveled back to her homeland to reestablish connections with the Cuban federation and compete at the national championships.

Her journey from barefoot training on dirt tracks in Havana, through six years away from athletics, to becoming a Spanish national champion and Cuban international competitor represents one of the most inspiring comeback stories in modern athletics. With her infectious positive attitude, relentless work ethic, and pure love for running, Casi continues to inspire everyone around her.

Recognition & Legacy

Casi is registered with World Athletics (athlete code: 14802002) and competes internationally for Cuba. Her story has been featured in Spanish athletics media as an exemplar of perseverance and the transformative power of sport. She serves as a coach and mentor to young athletes in La Rioja, sharing not only her technical knowledge but also her philosophy that challenges make us stronger and that appreciation for what we have fuels our pursuit of what we can become.

Eliani Casi represents the true spirit of athletics: finding joy in running, overcoming impossible odds, appreciating every opportunity, and never giving up on dreams—no matter how many times life asks you to start over.

“I’m Cuban by nature but Riojana at heart”—a sentiment that captures Eliani Casi’s remarkable journey from Havana to La Rioja, from poverty to championships, from leaving athletics behind to rediscovering her love for the sport. Her story reminds us that talent can emerge from anywhere, second chances exist for those willing to seize them, and the human spirit can triumph over any adversity.

Go Eliani!