MADRID, 23 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The women’s 4×100 relay, made up of Sonia Molina-Prados, Jaël-Sakura Bestué, Paula Sevilla and Maribel Pérez, made history this Friday by qualifying for the final at the World Championships in Eugene, in Oregon (United States), for the first time in the five editions in which they have participated, thanks to a new record for Spain with 42.61.
The Spanish quartet finished second in the second round, only surpassed by the United States, beating the national record with 42.61. The relay had never gone below 43 seconds, and the previous record, achieved on May 25 in Huelva, was almost seven tenths slower (43.28).
In the Hayward Field tartan, all the pieces of the gear of the Spanish quartet fit perfectly. Molina-Prados started in the first post with a partial of 11.76 so that Bestué conquered the counter-straight. The Catalan closed with a wild 10.17 despite the headwind and perfectly delivered the baton for Sevilla to run the curve in 10.56 (the second fastest of the eight third relievers). She put the lock on the classification the ‘captain’ of the relay, Maribel Pérez, who sprinted the finish line in 10.12 to put Spain in the final with second place in the series.
The Spanish finished fifth in the global calculation, behind the United States (41.56), the United Kingdom (41.99), Jamaica (42.37) and Germany (42.44). “The security of this team makes it very easy, all I wanted was for the relay to fly,” Molina-Prados said in statements to the media of the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA).
For her part, Jaël-Sakura Bestué confessed that they faced the test with “nerves”. “He’s a World Cup, he imposes a bit, but I’m happy, we’ve been up to the task, the fruits we expected have come out,” he added. “I am very happy we have trusted each other a lot. In the final we are going to try to do the same or better”, settled Maribel Pérez.
After qualifying for the final, it was time for the men’s 4×100, made up of Pol Retamal, Bernat Canet, Jesús Gómez Villadiego and Sergio López Barranco. With almost perfect deliveries and a spectacular second post by Pol Retamal (he did 9.10, the third fastest of the two heats), the Spanish team finished in sixth position in their series (ninth overall).
They stopped the clock in 38.70, the third best Spanish record of all time. However, it was not enough to advance to the final, without the possibility of completing a historic double with the women’s relay.