Mario Mola's feat: seventh in the Spanish cross championship

Carlos Mayo and Irene Snchez Escribano, national champions in Zaragoza.

The mere fact of posing it sounded daring. Or bravely. Mario Mola, three times triathlon world champion, the main asset of Spain in Tokyo for the Olympic gold this summer, ventured to compete in cross with the best national specialists. And the result, this Sunday in Zaragoza, never ceases to amaze. The Balearic Islands, which precisely ran in the colors of its autonomous community, finished in seventh position, less than a minute from the winner, Carlos Mayo.

It really wasn't something new for Mola, who exactly a decade ago was already Junior runner-up in Spain in cross country. The foot race was always his forte, to the point that he could have carved out a professional career in athletics if he had not opted for triathlon. But the fact of daring at this point in a cross-country competition, with the season of 'his own' dawning, was more the result of chance, of the suspension due to the coronavirus of the first test of the World Series in Abu Dhabi and of the loss of one of the members of the Balearic team (David Palacio).

And I was very curious how I would compete with the specialists in the Plaza de Zaragoza Linear Park. Side by side with them, starting without wrinkling and then in the chasing group, Mola has signed a time of 29:49, 42 seconds from the champion, May and 12 from the absolute bronze, Daniel Mateo (second was Toni Abada). “Magnificent experience! Very happy with my return to cross and contributing with a seventh place to the ranking of the Balearic team. Thank you all for the love and congratulations to all the finalists, especially to the beasts that took the final podium “he wrote on his social networks.

In the female category, the winner, with an exhibition, was Irene Snchez-Escribano. “I wanted to escape and break the group from the second round because the fight not only becomes physical but also psychological”, explained in EFE the toleadana, specialist in 3,000 obstacles (four times champion of Spain). Second was Carolina Robles and third was Paula Gonzlez.