Spain rules the Olympic test and takes four places in the ‘Top 5’
MADRID, 10 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The couple formed by the Spaniards Álvaro Martín and Laura García-Caro won this Sunday in the International Critérium of mixed walking relay, which was held in the City of Arts and Sciences of Valencia and which serves as a rehearsal for the walkers ahead of the premiere of the modality in the Olympic program in Paris 2024.
In the first contact with the mixed relay – which will replace the 50 kilometer walk in the Games, which only had a men’s event -, four of the five Spanish duos entered the ‘Top 5’. Leading all of them, the runners-up of Spain in the 20 km walk, Álvaro Martín and Laura García-Caro, entered the finish line with a time of 2:57:04, which was just 15 seconds away from the 2:56:49 with the that Ecuador took victory in the Pan American Games in November.
The pair formed by the brand new national champions Paul McGrath and Cristina Montesinos entered the finish line in second position (2:57:33), while the podium was completed by the tandem formed by Miguel Ángel López and Antía Chamosa (2:57:53) .
Fourth place went to Alberto Amezcua and Paula Juárez (2:58:57), while the fifth Spanish team, formed by Diego García Carrera and Raquel González, closed the test in 3:03:09.
To date, except for the Ecuadorian couple formed by Brian Pintado and Glenda Morejón, no other team from another country has completed the 42.195 km of the mixed marathon walking relay faster than those four duos.
In the 10 km walk test that was held in parallel, the victory in the men’s category went to the Yeclano Iván López (40:46), ahead of the Ecuadorian David Hurtado (41:03) and the also absolute international Manuel Bermúdez (41: 30).
In women, the European sub-20 10,000 meter walk champion, Sofía Santacreu, won with great clarity, placing herself as 3rd Spanish sub-20 of all time with a time of 45:25.