The victories of Ndikumwenayo and Guerrero serve the best result of the Spanish team in the competition
MADRID, 25 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish athletics team signed the best position in its history in the European Team Championship by finishing fourth this Sunday in the edition held in the Polish town of Chorzów, thanks to the victory of Thierry Ndikumwenayo in 5,000 meters and Esther Guerrero in 1,500.
Spain rallied two positions on the last day to celebrate a European to remember at the Stadion Slaski. The first of the two victories came at the hands of the rookie in the national team Thierry Ndikumwenayo. The ‘Tiger’ had a sensational race, knowing how to position himself and read the race from start to finish, to knock out the Italian Yemane Crippa and the Swede Almgren.
Ndikumwenayo signed a triumph (13:25.48) of giant in the personal and the collective, since Spain allowed itself to dream. Next, Guerrero, with the second best mark of the ‘milqui’, scored a suspenseful run up to the last millimeters with the Polish Galant, where the Spanish won the finish line by a single hundredth (4.11.77 by 4:11.78) .
These two victories, to accompany those of Daniel Arce and Mo Katir in 3,000 obstacles and 1,500 the previous two days, catapulted Spain into fourth, with the final test of the 4×400 m mixed relay still to come. The quartet made up of Iñaki Cañal, Carmen Avilés, Óscar Husillos and Laura Bueno defended that historic position ahead of the Netherlands, an a priori rival in the overall standings, despite the injury to their third reliever, finishing 11th.
In addition, Spain added with the third places of a rookie in the absolute team, the young Marta Serrano, in the 3,000 obstacles, and the jumper Fátima Diame. The Spanish team thus closed its best edition ever in the European Championship by teams with a fourth place behind Italy, Poland and Germany.