Andrés Chocho

Cristian Andrés Chocho León (born 4 November 1983) is an Ecuadorian race walker who competes in both the 20 km and 50 km walk events. He is the South American record holder in the 50 km (3:49:32 hours) and 20,000 metres (1:20:23.8 hours) walking events.

Chocho was the 2011 South American Champion over 20 km and was the bronze medallist at the 2011 Summer Universiade. His best global level finish is eleventh over 50 km at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics. He represented Ecuador at four Summer Olympics, won a gold medal in 50 km Walk in the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games, and is a seven-time participant of the IAAF World Race Walking Cup.

Career Born in Cuenca, Ecuador (the same city as 1996 Olympic racewalk champion Jefferson Pérez), he began racewalking at a young age and made his international debut at 15 years old. He took third in both the youth 10 km at the 1999 South American Racewalking Cup and the 10,000 m walk at the 1999 South American Junior Championships in Athletics. The year after he improved to second at the youth section of the South American Cup, but was disqualified for lifting at the 2000 South American Junior Championships. In spite of this he was chosen to compete at the 2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics held in Santiago de Chile and came 24th. He ended the year with a win over 10,000 m at the 2000 South American Youth Championships in Athletics.

The 2001 South American Junior Championships in Athletics were held in conjunction with the 2001 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships in October and he won the South American 10,000 m walk title, while finishing second in the Pan American race behind Mexico's Horacio Nava. Later that month he won the 10 km junior road title at the South American Cup. In his final year of junior competition he was runner-up to Brazil's Rafael Duarte in the 2002 South American Junior Championships and placed eighteenth in the 10,000 m walk at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics. That year also marked his senior debut at the 2002 IAAF World Race Walking Cup, where he took 34th place in the 20 km walk category, as well as a tenth-place finish at the South American Cup.

Chocho did not compete in major competition in 2003 but returned in 2004 he placed fifth in the South American Cup. He was disqualified at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup in both 2004 and 2006. He set a personal best of 1:22:31 hours for the 20 km walk at the Na Rynek Marsz meet in June 2007, but managed only 13th place at the 2007 Summer Universiade and was again disqualified at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. He also improved his best to 1:22:05 hours at that year's Na Rynek Marsz meet. His highlights of 2009 were a twelfth-place finish at the 2009 Summer Universiade and 39th place at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. but managed 31st at the 2010 IAAF World Race Walking Cup. He debuted over the 50 km walk distance that October and set a time of 3:54:42 hours in Congers, New York. That June he broke the South American record for the 20,000 m walk at the 2011 South American Championships in Athletics, winning the gold medal in a time of 1:20:23.8 hours. He followed this with a bronze medal performance at the 2011 Summer Universiade.

Making his championship debut over the distance, Chocho proved himself more adept at the longer distance and took eleventh place at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics with a South American record time of 3:49:32 hours. He ended the year at the 2011 Pan American Games, but was disqualified in the 50 km walk event. He finished in 18th place. He did not finish his race.

Personal life

Andres Chocho is the son of the olympic trainer, Luis Chocho (born 1957 in Cuenca Ecuador, died February 17, 2021, due to the complications for the COVID-19 disease to the age of 64 years old).

He is married to a Brazilian race walker, Érica de Sena, who he also coaches. Their son was born in 2022.

Personal bests Track walk 10,000 m: 40:29.71 min (ht) – Cuenca, Ecuador, 21 March 2016 20,000 m: 1:20:23.8 hrs (ht) – Buenos Aires, Argentina, 5 June 2011

Road walk 20 km: 1:20:07 hrs – Rome, Italy, 7 May 2016 50 km: 3:42:57 hrs NR– Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, 6 March 2016

International competitions