Saúl Ordóñez, indisposed, out of the 800 semifinals, while Marta Pérez and Marta García reach the 3,000 final.
In a first day only in the evening and still without finals, the European Championship started with the qualifying series for the men’s 800 meters. Unfortunately, it was not in them. Mariano Garciawho, after setting a new national record in 1:45.12 in Boston on the 4th, slowed down the motorcycle to which he owes his mechanic nickname until he parked it in the garage.
He undressed the Spanish test, but he did not leave her naked. There they were, in theoretical order of importance and dressed in all the justified ambitions, Saul Ordonez, Adrian Ben y Javier Miron. But Ordóñez, precisely him, did not make the cut. The Spanish champion, the winner of the Madrid rally, the man who arrived with the best mark of his life (1: 45.88), finished, with a very poor record (1: 51.72), the last of his very slow series. A race won at a snail’s pace by the Pole Mateusz Borkowski above 1:49.
There was an explanation. Saúl had been indisposed for a few days and was the first to regret his unexpected fiasco. Spain thus exhausted an irreplaceable bullet. Ben and Mirón, on the other hand, second in their respective heats, easily passed through positions, especially Ben, to the semifinals, with similar numbers: 1:47.32 and 1:47.38, respectively.
International debutant at the age of 28, Flower Ibarzabalunapologetic, she also moved on to the semifinals of the women’s 800. She second in her series with 2:04.63, she will not be accompanied by Daniela Garcia, fourth in his with a better mark (2:04.20), but insufficient according to the rules of the game, because the first two of each series and the two best times reached the semifinals. She ran bravely and clumsily, with too many meters through the outer streets. Keely Hodgkinsonse walk, elegant and fluid, with 2:01.67. She did a quality workout. There is probably no clearer gold in this Championship.
The two Spaniards, the two Martha: Pérez y García. The first, sixth in its series, by positions. The second, seventh in his, by times. But they did not make a good impression. They ended up too exhausted. Belén Toimil, on the other hand, did not agree to the shot put final. She finished thirteenth with 16.88, far from the top of her year (18:27).
The 1,500 men closed the day. Shadow and sun for the Spanish in the common lament for the voluntary absence of Mohamed Katir y Mario Garcia Romo. And while Ignacio Fontes He failed in his attempt to reach the final, Jesus Gomez he planted himself in it with solvency. Fontes sank on the last straight. He entered it first and finished sixth in 3:44.33. Gómez kept the pulse of the British Neil Gourleythe second on the scale of gold contenders after Jakob Ingebrigtsenand was second with 3:41.26.
Fontes had run in the first heat. Gomez, in the second. Ingebrigtsen, in the first. She couldn’t take it more calmly and safely. With 400 meters to go, he was last. He accelerated without a grimace, without a rictus and, as the top three were classified by positions, he came… third. He must dose his forces because he is also going to participate in the 3,000, where he awaits him, in great shape, the always optimistic Adel Mechaal.
There’s a Friday full of finals: the women’s 3,000m, shot put, pentathlon (in which each of the five events is a final in itself) and 60m. And the men’s weight, triple jump and, above all, 1,500, with Gómez and… Ingebrigtsen.
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