Career
Her first name also spells Yenifer of Yennifer. She set her 400 m personal best of 51.53 seconds at the competition. Padilla was a medallist in the individual and relay sprinting events at the South American Championships in Athletics in both 2009 and 2011.
She jointly holds the Colombian record for the 4×400 m relay with a time of 3:29.94 minutes.
Although the 2009 South American Junior Athletics Championships was for younger athletes, she repeated the same placings in both the 200 m and 4×100 m relay events. A week later she ran at the 2009 Pan American Junior Championships in Athletics.
She came sixth in the 200 m but demonstrated her strength in the 400 metres sprint by winning the gold medal in a time of 53.60 seconds. In June she ran at the 2010 Ibero-American Championships in Athletics and claimed the 400 m silver medal behind Cuba"s Daisurami Bonne.
She was less successful individually at July"s 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games, being eliminated in the heats, but she managed to aid Colombia to second place in the 4×400 m relay with Alejandra Idrovo, Darlenis Obregón and Norma González.
Returning to the continental competition, she was the runner-up in both 400 m individual and relay events at the 2011 South American Championships in Athletics. She ran a 400 m personal best of 51.59 seconds in Cali then placed fifth at the competitive 2011 CAC Championships. She went on to claim two further medals in athletics for Colombia at the games, first helping the 4×100 m relay team to the bronze medal, then anchoring Colombia"s 4×400 m relay to a second bronze and a Colombian record mark of 3:29.94 minutes.
She represented her country at the 2012 London Olympics, but was disqualified in her heat.
She had success at the 2012 South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics, taking the 400 m title, a 100 m relay silver medal, and fourth place in the 200 m. 100 m: 11.70 A (wind: NWI) – Medellín, 5 March 2010
200 m: 23.35 (wind: +01 m/s) – Bogotá, 13 August 2011
400 m: 51.53 – Guadalajara, 26 October 2011.