Martha Garciathe fittest Spanish athlete in recent times, has registered for the 1,500 and 3,000 m events in the national indoor track to be held in Valencia from February 27 to March 1.
If you do not fail any of these tests, it will be a very demanding programwith a race in each of the four sessions of the Spanish Championship. Thus, the Castilian and Leonese would seek the midfield double unprecedented in the history of the women’s category.
García, 28, last week beat his Spain’s own record of 3,000 m indoors and this weekend he lowered his personal best by 1,500. And in January he came very close to the national 10 km road record shortly after having won the San Silvestre Vallecana for the second year in a row.
In other words, the member of the On Athletics Club (OAC) arrives in a exceptional moment to this championship, although the accumulation of efforts to try for the double is also out of the norm.
The championship schedule
The challenge for Marta García will begin on Friday (5:45 p.m.) with the 3,000 m semi-final and on Saturday morning (12:00 p.m.) with that same 1,500 m qualifying round. AND Your main dishes will arrive on Saturday afternoonwith the final of the 3,000 (7:50 p.m.) and on Sunday morning with the milqui (11:20).
The ambition of García, bronze medalist in the last European outdoor event (Rome 2024) of the 5,000, will have to be measured with his relative inexperience in the 1,500 and with his return to the Olympic slopes. Lorena Martin. However, it can also benefit from the losses due to different circumstances of the two great dominators of the distance in recent years, Esther Guerrero and Marta Pérez, and also Águeda Marqués, although it is a test where tactics are usually very important and may fall short.
However, in the 3,000m, the longest test of the competition and where he already has minimum for the World Cup indoor de Torun (Poland) in March, his records (8:34.28) are unmatched by any of his rivals.
In the history of these Spanish championships, the doublet 1,500 / 3,000 only one man has achieved it, Adel Mechaal (on four occasions), but never a woman. Doubles have been relatively more common in both categories in speed events or in the case of sprinters who have combined with hurdles or jumpers who were also sprinters.
In the registration lists published by the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA) also draws attention that Mohamed Attaoui and Adrián Ben are registered in both the 800 and the 1,500 in the men’s category, but with the timing of these two tests seems incompatible since their respective rounds almost overlap in only two sessions. Thus, the men’s semifinals of the 800 and 1,500 are on Saturday (11:25 and 12:35) and the finals on Sunday with even less rest (11:20 and 11:45).
Last year, Attaoui already tried the double in Madrid. Then he had the semi-finals in different sessions and the finals with a little more margin, but after winning the 1,500 m he collapsed in the 800 m final.
