MADRID, 23 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish Dani Arce finished ninth on Tuesday in the final of the 3000 meter hurdles of the Outdoor Athletics World Championship, which is taking place in Budapest (Hungary), during a day where his compatriots Saúl Ordóñez, Adrián Ben and Mohamed Attaoui they qualified for the 800 meter semifinals.
Being the first European athlete to finish, Arce repeated in the Hungarian capital the same position he achieved last year during the World Cup held in Eugene (Oregon, USA). In the final in Budapest, the man from Burgos chose to stay in the back, at the bottom of the group during the first laps and beginning to overtake his rivals in the middle of the race, when the group had already broken in two.
On the one hand there was the fight for the medal, with the Ethiopian Girma and the Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali as protagonists, and on the other hand there was Arce climbing positions to hunt down those who could fall in the outcome. But ahead of him they barely slackened and the man from Burgos was left out of the ‘diploma’ positions due to his final time of 8:18.31, his best mark in the three World Cups he has played.
The afternoon session of this fourth day of competition in Budapest, despite everything, brought joy to the Spanish team with three 800-year-olds classified for the ‘semis’. Saúl Ordóñez ran the third series intelligently, leading from the start and at a slow pace, with the clear intention of being well positioned so as not to be pushed.
The tactic worked well until after the first lap, when he was passed by the Puerto Rican John Rivera and the American Isaiah Harris. The Spaniard, far from being intimidated, fought off in the final stretch and made use of his best sprint to finish third (1: 47.67), just in places that gave the pass to the next round.
Full of authority was the performance of the current European indoor champion, the Galician Adrián Ben. Although he started from behind and even dropped from the front group along with Kenyan Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich, he made progress as soon as he completed the first lap. He opened up to the 2nd lane and overtook several rivals on the outside to reach the top positions, finishing with a splendid final stretch and achieving a clear victory in 1: 45.37.
The youngest of the three Spanish eighties, Mohamed Attaoui, ran the fifth series with mastery, going down lane 2 and doing extra meters that did not undermine him to face the last straight with power, until finally being third (1:46.65). . That eliminated reigning Olympic and world champion Emmanuel Korir of Kenya.