MADRID, 16 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Athletes Mohamed Attaoui, silver in 1500 meters, Yasiel Sotero, bronze in discus throw, and Marta Serrano, also bronze in 3000 meters obstacles, gave the Spanish team three new medals this Saturday at the European Athletics Under-23 Championship , which is taking place in Espoo (Finland).
After four days of competition on the tartan of the Leppävaara Stadion, and only remaining on Sunday, Spain has a total of seven medals: three golds, two silvers and two bronzes. In the points classification of this contest, Spain is third with 96 and is even, along with Germany, the country with the most finalists (21).
The Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA) highlighted that Yasiel Sotero had been the first Spaniard to hang a medal this Saturday. The discus thrower from the Canary Islands already knew what it was like to win bronze in his debut in the category two years ago, and in Espoo he reissued the medal with a best throw of 61.69 meters. He completed his formative stage with four continental medals: two under-23 bronzes and two golds, under-20 and under-18.
Just started the afternoon session, Marta Serrano was confirmed in the international showcase as one of the obstacles with more future. The Spanish U-23 record holder bravely followed the high pace of the leaders (at 3:06 for the first 1000 m.) and held on in the leading trio until the last kilometer. Finally, she premiered her individual international record with a bronze after doing 9: 41.47.
With almost no time to digest that medal, Mohamed Attaoui and Pol Oriach stood at the starting line for the 1500 m. with podium aspirations. The Spaniard suffered a rough race, in which he was locked up in the last lap. However, he was able to fix that poor tactical decision and in the last straight he pulled power to climb the positions and go all the way to silver in 3:43.63. Behind him, Oriach, who had attacked hard with 250 meters to go, finished fifth with 3:44.85.