Guerrero, García and Ben make 1,500 Spanish shine at the start of the Nankín World Cup

The start of the world of athletics on the covered track that is being played in Nankín (China) brought good news for Spanish athletics that put Mariano García, Adrián Ben and Esther Guerrero as his first finalists, all of them in the 1,500 meters.

The national midfield showed its competitive level at the premiere of the World Cup event called Short Track and made full finalists, with García and Guerrero directly, and with a brave Ben having to wait in the ‘Hot Chair’ to check his chrono was the fastest of the rest and that he could fight for the medals.

The first finalist for the Spanish team was merit of the veteran Esther Guerrero. The Gerundense, captain of the team, was classified for her second World Cup ‘Indoor’ and did so with solvency, ending third of her series with a chrono of 4: 09.90, the fastest third of Sunday’s finalists.

“I am happy, I have found myself very well. I think the race has happened to me superRPIDE because I was going, they have tried to pass and suddenly there were two laps and I had a lot of strength. I have found myself well, I wanted to try to run quickly the last three laps because in the European I could not and I stayed wanting to know what would happen. On Sunday I have an opportunity to discover it, I have 48 hours and I will enjoy them.

And the plenary in the distance was confirmed by the two male representatives, Adrián Ben and Mariano García, despite the difficulty that he entrusted to get into the fight for the medals since only the first two of each of the series and only one more athlete for times passed.

This condition was the one that gave the Galician ticket, brave in the first series, the fastest of the day. The Spanish wanted to take the initiative and put in the lead in the last laps, and fought until the final stretch for one of the direct positions, which escaped by a little margin.

The nursery athlete achieved his best personal brand with 3: 36.95 to finish third, two hundredths from the second place of the American Samuel Prakel and 35 of the winner of the series, the British Neil Gourley. From there, he had to wait for another three more races to know his fate, but none of them was faster and in the end the suspense had a happy ending and could join a good Mariano García.

The Murcian, who had stayed out of the 800 meters of the European two weeks ago, demonstrated a good level in his slow series, in which he was the best. The world champion of 800 meters on track covered in 2022 dominated with authority and won with a chrono of 4: 02.68.

“At the passage of 800, almost 1000, I have thrown forward and I have placed second or third that I had raised without changing strong and keeping bullets for that last round that were coming like crazy. I have taken advantage of my speed and I have finished strong. We hope to enjoy the Hispanic final against Jakob (Ingebrigttsen),” said Mariano García.

For his part, Adrián Ben was “very content” for having gotten into the final after having “a little downturn” when he saw that he had been left out by two hundredths, although with the joy of having made “the best race” in 1,500 with his best personal brand and “a prize for courage.”

“I have not looked at any type of times, I have run easy, calm and try to spend the bullet that I had when the race has been quick. The bad part has come when the American has seen me pass inside in the absence of 100 meters and I have stopped completely and believed that my career was over there,” he confessed.

There was also good news in 800 meters, where there was another plenary, although in this case to move on to the semifinals thanks to Lorea Ibarzabal, which passed as the third of his series and for a “blessed hundredth”, as she herself acknowledged, of advantage over the fourth, the young Elvin Josué Canales and the veteran Álvaro above, who took the bitter taste of the European. All of them were classified directly.

The semifinals also came the young sprinter Guillem Crespí, who spent the first cut of the 60 meters (6.67), but could not with the penultimate prior to the final (6.64), while Manuel Guiijarro, the first Spaniard to compete in Nankín, and Marcos Ruiz, fell eliminated to the first change in the 400 my in the triple jump.

The first day of the World Cup crowned the first champions in the appointment. The Italian Andy Díaz won in the triple jump with the best world brand of the year (17.80 m), the South Korean Sanghyok Woo in the height jump (2.31 m), the British Jeremiah Azu in the 60 m (6.49), the Canadian Sarah Mitton in weight (20.48 m) and the Finnish Saga Vanninen in Pentathlon.