MADRID, 16 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Spanish athletes Sebastián Martos and Daniel Arce qualified this morning for the final of the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Eugene Outdoor Athletics World Championships, while Eusebio Cáceres, with a great final jump, will also compete in the long jump final .
For the first time in 17 years, two Spanish athletes will compete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase final, after Sebastián Martos, 33, completed a great qualifying race, fighting side by side in the top positions and without losing rope when they were unleashed the hostilities that have led him to achieve fifth place (three for positions entered), with a time of 8:18.94 (his third best time ever), and the pass to the grand final, his first World Cup final. “It’s the moment I’ve been waiting for all my life, I’m very happy,” confessed Martos in statements shared by the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA).
The second Spanish finalist will be Daniel Arce, after a third series full of courage, running well positioned for much of the race and suffering a lot in the last laps. Finally, his effort paid off and he will be in his first World Cup final, thanks to the mark of 8: 21.06 (his fourth best). The rookie Víctor Ruiz could not endorse his great season, always in late positions and finishing eleventh in the second series with 8: 33.42.
Marta Pérez from Soriana also made it to the 1,500 m semifinals thanks to a second heat in which she ran in 4:05.92 (her best time of the year). At the beginning of the race, she was giving away meters outside, but always in the fight for positions to advance in the round. Somewhat locked up and with some setbacks than another from which she knew how to recover, with a great final lap full of effort, she will be in the semifinal after a great final lap.
In the long jump, heads and tails in the classification, although with suffering. The face was put by the Alicante Eusebio Cáceres, fourth in the Tokyo Games. In Eugene, he flew his third jump with 8.03 meters to advance to the final, after two failures and being on the ropes. The man from Onil will thus play his third World Cup final in his five participations in this event. The cross went to Héctor Santos, who chained three nulls in group A of classification.
Finally, in weight, the Spanish record holder Belén Toimil did not enter the final by taking the ball in her third attempt to 17.48 m within group B of the classification. The Galician, who arrived with a best mark of the season of 17.98 m, did not have her best day in a weak contest, with a very high level of her rivals. The Spanish champion Carlos Tobalina, the oldest member of the Spanish delegation at 37 years old, was also left out of the weight final with a best throw of 19.70 m.
In the women’s 4×400, this morning saw the farewell to Allyson Felix, who added her 19th medal -13 of them gold- in a World Cup, by achieving bronze with the United States, in a race in which the Dominican Republic won, with Countries Bass second.