Seventh medal for the Spanish delegation, a bronze in charge of mario garcia romo on the end of 1,500 who pitched from start to finish Jakob Ingebrigtsen. The Norwegian gets the doublet after his victory in the 5,000 meters, ahead of Mohamed Katir. Sevillian Gonzalo García achieved a finalist place by entering sixth position and Ignacio Fontes was eleventh.
Much expectation had created the final of 1,500, with three Spaniards and an undisputed favorite, Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Favorite but not unbeatable by accumulating two significant defeats this season and in this distance. Mario García Romo, Ignacio Fontes and Gonzalo García took the start together with the 21-year-old Norwegian phenomenon.
García Romo stuck to the Norwegian like a glue, sure that his slipstream would lead to the podium and the only possibility of surprising the powerful Viking runner if he faltered. His decision was rewarded but in the final stretch he could not withstand the attack of the British Jake Edwardwho took the silver.
Familiar saga
The Ingebrigtsen phenomenon also knows what it is to lose. The Ethiopian Samuel Tefera at the Indoor World Championships in Belgrade and Jake Wightman in Eugene were the last to break the winning streak of the Olympic champion in Tokyo. «I told all the people close to him that he could fight for gold but right now Ingebrigtsen is at a level unattainable for everyone. We have a benchmark and we have to work better and prepare the championships better to face the cycle of the coming years. You can’t take everything with Norway”, said García Romo after the race.
Last night, the youngest of the Ingebrigtsens had a clearer path than ever to dominate the final at will and add his second continental gold in 1,500, after his victory at the European Championships in Berlin in 2018, and the second title in Munich after triumphing in the 5,000 meters last Tuesday.
???? MARIO GARCÍA ROMO, EUROPEAN BRONZE MEDAL in the 1500m #Munich2022
???? 2 ABSOLUTE EVENTS
4️⃣ WORLD CUP 2022
???? EUROPEAN 2022???? DIAMOND, 23 years old with a very well furnished head. pic.twitter.com/i0zEJTFtFb
– Jaime Gómez (@Rincon_Deporte) August 18, 2022
Jakob has two older brothers who are also runners, Filip and Henrik, whom he outgrew before he was 20, and a father who is a coach. Since the 1980s, when the British Sebastian Coe, also with a father coach, Steve Ovett and later Steve Cram dominated the middle distance, no other European athlete had ruled the 1500 with such authority. The only possible doubt in this Thursday’s final for the youngest of the Ingebrigtsens was whether the effort made in Tuesday’s final to contain Mohamed Katir in the last corner, in a last kilometer of 5,000 in 2.23 minutes, was going to help him. bill.
Mission Impossible
Mario García Romo appeared among the bunch of rivals capable of trying, in the style of Katir, spending the minimum to get fresh to the last straight and surprise the man to beat. The Murcian did not succeed, but at least he tried and secured the silver, García Romo the bronze last night.
Surprising the Nordic again, it sounded like an impossible mission for the 23-year-old from Salamanca, but there are not two defeats without three, we all have a bad day, also the Nordics, the Villar de Gallimazo, fourth in Oregon, must have thought, improving his personal record to stand at 3:30:20 minutes, in the cream of this distance. But it was not the case. The Norwegian was intractable.
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García Romo was uncovered this season with a valuable victory in the American university championship, which he endorsed again by winning the Spanish championship prior to the World Cup.
The finalist in Oregon is part of the large group of more than a hundred Spanish athletes awarded scholarships by American universities, in this case by Mississippi, where he studies biotechnology.