María Forero and the members of the Under-20 team are proclaimed champions
MADRID, 11 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish athletics team has won five medals, two golds, one silver and two bronzes, in the European Cross Country Championships, held in the La Mandria park in Turin (Italy), a day in which María Forero, in the Under-20 category, and the U-20 women’s team were proclaimed continental champions.
In a circuit at the foot of the Alps, Spain achieved the best harvest of medals since Hyères 2015 -where they achieved six- to finish behind only Great Britain and Italy in the overall medal table. Thus, he reaches 82 metals in the history of the championship.
The great Spanish successes came in the Under-20 category and at the hands of women. María Forero from Huelva took command of the event from the beginning to become the first Spaniard to reign in this category -Alessandra Aguilar won in 1996 in a race that was then an exhibition and did not count for the medal table-.
The rest of the teammates, Iraia Mendía -9th-, Antía Castro -11th-, María Viciosa -24th-, Marta Serrano -43rd- and Inés Docampo -53rd-, were entering the finish line to reach 21 points and the medal gold, improving on last year’s second place in Dublin.
In the men’s Under-20 category, Spain took bronze thanks to the performances, above all, of Jaime Migallón -6th- and Mario Monreal -8th-, as well as those of David Cantero -16th-, Aleix Vives -20th- and Eric Loré -35th-, while Ronaldo Olivo was forced to retire after the first lap.
Meanwhile, in the mixed relay, Jesús Gómez, Solange Pereira, Adrián Ben and Rosalía Tárraga touched gold, but had to settle for silver in a close final with Italy. With this, he adds his fourth medal in the five editions that this test has been taking place.
In the absolute men’s category, in which the Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen had no choice, the Spanish team won the bronze medal -24th men’s team medal in 28 editions-, all after Mohamed Katir was ninth, Abdessamad Oukhelfen tenth, Carlos May seventeenth, Roberto Alaiz eighteenth, Nassim Hassaous twenty-fifth and Sergio Paniagua, thirty-fourth.
In the absolute female, Spain was close to the bronze of Ireland in a test dominated by Germany. Irene Sánchez-Escribano finished fifteenth, Águeda Marqués was seventeenth, Naima Ait Alibou twenty-third, Isabel Barreiro twenty-fourth, Carolina Robles twenty-eighth and Marta García, forty-first.
In Sub-23, the women were fourth -Carmen Riaño (8th), Andrea Romero (10th), María González (31st), Ángela Viciosa (32nd), Laura Rodríguez (42nd) and Alicia Berzosa (49th)-, while the men finished seventh -Àdam Maijó (18th), Aarón Las Heras (31st), Pol Oriach (33rd), Miguel Ángel Martínez (36th), Adrià Ceballos (39th) and Miguel Baidal (48th)-.