Young juniors take Spain to the top at the European Athletics Championships | Sports

There is no one in the world of athletics who would not say that the European Championships in Munich was an exceptional competition. Stadiums, spectators, top athletes, and at the highest level of brands. The Olympic champions who arrived competed as if this was the most important event of the year. Marcel Jacobs (100m, 9.95s), Karsten Warholm (400m hurdles, 47.12s), Jacob Ingbrigtsen (1500m, 3m 32.76s), Mundo Duplants (pole, 6.06m), Miltiadis Tintoglu (Length, 8, 52 AD), they have broken or equal championship records. A character like Dutch Queen of Championships Vimk Paul, 22, has won three gold medals in an unusual combination and impressive times: 400m dash (49.44sec, European time of the year), 400m hurdles (52.67sec, world record) and leader 4×400 relay for his.

In 30 out of 46 disciplines, the marks of the champions in Munich were better than those achieved by the previous tournaments, Berlin 2018, but in only four they were better than the last World Cup champions. Great powers such as Germany have realized that in the World Cup the three dominant blocs – the United States, Jamaica, the rest of the Caribbean, Ethiopia and Kenya – leave little room and decided that their athletes will arrive at their Europeans at their best. And they went from gray performances in Eugene (gold and bronze for the Germans at the World Cup) to sweep the Olympic stadium in front of their crazy fans, because it is easier to support some athletes with a chance of victory than those who will fight for the crumbs: 16 medals, seven of them gold.

Spain followed the German model to perfection, with Mo Catherer after the World Cup winning bronze medals in the 1500m and Asir Martinez in the 110m hurdles, and fourth place for Mario Garcia in the 1500m, he shone in Munich, ranked third on the list, With 10 medals (four gold, three silver and three bronze) and above all, with the rise of an irresistible new generation: none of the four medalists on the track, the two champions, captive Martinez (110m hurdles, 22 years old) and Mariano Garcia (800m, 24), the 5,000m runner-up (Mo Cater, 24) and the bronze in the 1,500m (Mario Garcia, 23) are still 25. For four of them, he was the first absolute European they had ever taken part in. They are talented, professional and ambitious. Cater thought only of beating Jacob Ingbrigtsen in the 5000 metres, and Mario Garcia risked the bronze medal in his desperate attempt to finish the Norwegian in the 1500 metres. His catchphrase is, if it’s not winning, why would I come. Asier Martínez, the one who climbed the dizzy Gotha in the world 110m hurdles, had already won and so did Mariano García, who traveled to Munich carrying a young plant, a symbol that came with the gold medal, to plant the Garden of Champions, and was afraid to perform the popular reception awaiting him in Fuente Almo (Murcia), where he trains, to delay and impede his training plans. “You have to keep working, you have to go to the gym, the weights, the most boring,” regrets Morcian, who will try next week in the Brussels Diamond League to get the minimum (one million and 44.70 seconds) for the 2023 World Cup and for his part Mario Garcia will participate in The 1500m race is in Lausanne next Friday and Aser Martinez will continue to compete.

Italy (11 medals, three gold, after some sad World Cup finals) followed a similar process, but not France, with athletics in crisis, a bad World Cup and, worse, Europe, out of it, for the first time since 1982 without a champion.

The other four individual medals, with the exception of two in the team marathons, the golds for Alvaro Martin and Miguel Angel Lopez, the silver for Raquel Gonzalez and the bronze for Diego Garcia, were achieved in the walking events, the discipline in which Spain sets the pace for the rest of Europe thanks to the three cores, Madrid, Cesa and Guadix , where three enthusiasts Jose Antonio Quintana, Jose Antonio Carrillo and Daniel Garzon were at the cutting edge of knowledge and the latest technology in preparation. It constantly sprouts high-level parades, achieving performances for many years.

“The balance of the tournament for Spain was very positive,” congratulates national coach Jose Piero. We haven’t reached the ceiling yet. The best thing about this team is the very high level of competitiveness of all the athletes. We will continue with the policy of always bringing in the most competitive team.”

Almost within the euphoria, one aspect should make the Spanish coaches reflect the disparity between the results of men and women. The Munich team consisted of 89 athletes, 49 men and 40 women. Eight of the medals were male, only two were women. More than 40% of men (19) made it to the final place, and only seven women (17%).

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