Two medals and eight finalists, the best World Cup since Osaka 2007
MADRID, 24 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish athlete Miguel Ángel López finished tenth this Sunday in the 35-kilometer race walk of the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, lowering his national record by almost two minutes, a great finishing touch to Spain’s performance in the United States.
The toughest test of the march put the last Spaniards in contention in the morning session of the last day of the World Cup. The Murcian was the best, with a time of 2:25.58 as a new record for Spain, the fourth beaten in the world event these days and the 114th of a 2022 season of constant growth.
For his part, Álvaro López finished in 32nd position, with 2:36:20, while Marc Tur was disqualified after receiving four cards, all for flexing. The Japanese Daisuke Matsunaga blew up the race from the start, breaking away from the group from the first kilometer to the 20th, enough to set a high pace. The gold in the end went to the Italian Massimo Stano, ahead of the Japanese Masatora Kawano and the Swedish Perseus Karlström.
Miguel Ángel López remained among the pursuers for three quarters of the race, settled in a ‘Top 10’ from which he did not drop, nor did he stop in search of a new Spanish record this season. Meanwhile, Álvaro López was left behind from the start, coming back without being able to find the best version of him.
Tur was less conservative and despite the fact that he did not venture with the group of referents, he did advance in the classification until he was 18th, but he was disqualified when he had completed about 25 kilometers. Thus he finished the World Cup for Spain, once again overcoming with the losses of Orlando Ortega and Ana Peleteiro, achieving his best result since Osaka 2007.
The four national records broken are the absolute women’s 4x100m (twice) and 35km walk, plus Asier Martínez’s Sub 23 in 110m hurdles. In addition, López becomes the 14th Spaniard to have finished in the top 10 at Oregon 2022.
Spain won two bronze medals (Asier Martínez in the 110m hurdles and Mohamed Katir in the 1500m) and achieved eight finalist positions (the two medalists plus the women’s 4x100m, Eusebio Cáceres in long distance, Álvaro Martín in the 20km walk, Raquel González and Laura García-Caro in 35 km walk and Mario García Romo in 1500 m).