The Spanish men's 20km squad at the 2018 World Race Walking Team Championships (© Getty Images)
Three’s a crowd for Maria Perez when it comes to her quest for 2022 glory. So, the reigning European 20km champion is excused duty at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships Muscat 22 on 4-5 March.
Instead, the exciting race walker, with fast times already in 2022 at the fledgling 35km and 20km, will focus on the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 in July, and then the European Championships in Munich a month later.
This would be a blow to lesser squads, but the 25-year-old's absence won't detract from a country that is an event favourite for medals in various categories.
Head race walks coach Santiago Perez, no relation, rattled off a number of other contenders, but added that Spain’s secret lies in its constant development of talent.
“China, Japan, Italy, Mexico, Australia, Colombia, Ecuador, Germany … they are all great teams with very good race walkers. But our goal is to continue growing and to be able to be at the level of the best,” he said.
“Our philosophy is not winning once, but to create a legacy.
“Furthermore, we have a secret: our coaches are the best. Our tradition and history in this discipline is very strong, and for this reason we fight every day to continue achieving successes that make all athletics fans in Spain feel proud.”
Laura Garcia-Caro at the 2019 World Championships in Doha (© AFP / Getty Images)
Perez is taking 23 walkers to the Middle East, and although up against all the countries their coach lists, Spain will be a hard nut to crack.
Both the men and women’s 35km outfits are particularly strong.
For the men, Miguel Angel Lopez is a race favourite. The former world and European champion at 20km posted a swift 2:27:53 in January that ranks him No.1. Marc Tur won the European Cup at 50km last year, and was fourth in the final edition of the Olympic 50km race – only an agonising nine seconds from bronze.
The current European 20km champion Alvaro Martin, world ranked first and third at 20km and 35km, has also decided to step up after his 2:29:59 behind Lopez in Lepe, Huelva, that ranks him world third at 35km.
Factor in Manuel Bermudez, who clocked 2:32:06 in Lepe, and 22-year-old Alvaro Lopez, who recorded 2:32:44 in the same race, and it’s hard to find a stronger quintet.
The Spanish women are not far behind, with a line-up in Muscat pretty much the finishing order behind Perez’s 2:39:16 in Lepe. Laura Garcia-Caro was runner-up with 2:48:05, while Mar Juarez recorded 2:53:40 for bronze in Lepe, with Carmen Escariz fifth in 3:00:48. Raquel Gonzalez has yet to show in 2022, but her 2:48:40 last year earns her a place in the team.
Interestingly, and in contrast to some national coaches, Santiago Perez thinks the gap between the World Race Walking Team Championships and World Championships is more than sufficient to pitch his best, apart from Maria Perez, into both.
“Five months is enough time to compete in Oman and in Oregon at 100%,” he said.
“It’s difficult when the World Race Walking Team Championships takes place in May and the World Championships or the Olympics Games are in August. But this time, with the team championship in March, there will be enough time (to recover).”
However, the chances of say Lopez and Perez doubling in Oregon are in doubt, even given the minimum seven days between the 20km and 35km. After all, both will have eyes on the European Championships almost straight after. And yet, the coach admits they are still to make a final decision.
“With the European and World Championships only a month apart, it doesn't seem advisable to double the distance. But we still have a lot of time to make those decisions.”
The strength in depth is underlined by the performances of 20km race walkers at the 13 February Spanish Championships in Pamplona. Alberto Amezcua with 1:20:29 won by more than a minute from Tur, with rising star Paul McGrath third.
Paul McGrath celebrates his win at the 2021 European U20 Championships (© Getty Images)
Perez has high hopes for first and third in that race.
“Amezcua is an excellent athlete who was ninth at the World Championships in London 2017,” he said. “His problem is Spain has other athletes, who are also very good.
“Last year, he made an extraordinary 1:19:54, but didn’t go to the Olympics because there were three others with better times.
“As our chief national coach Jose Peiro says: ‘In Spain we have a wonderful problem in race walking and middle-distance, because we have very good athletes and only three places for them in the big international championships’.”
McGrath, who has a Scottish father and Spanish mother, notched an eye-catching 1:21:43 on his debut in Pamplona, and goes straight into the senior team. He won’t be 20 until two days after the World Race Walking Team Championships.
“Paul is the current European U20 champion and won world bronze in Kenya last year. He is an athlete with a great future, because he is very hard-working and responsible, and his senior teammates think a lot of him,” added Perez.
One missing from Pamplona, but chosen for Muscat, is Diego Garcia. However, the Olympic sixth-place finisher has the luxury of a world No.2 ranking behind Martin as well as a 1:18:58 PB on his CV.
Just to make sure of a stellar showing, back-up comes in the shape of Ivan Lopez (1:22:30), fourth in Pamplona, and Jose Manuel Perez (1:22:37), with the pair – like McGrath – making their World Race Walking Team Championships debut.
If there is a Spanish shortcoming, it’s the women’s 20km where only Lidia Sanchez-Puebla (1:33:48 in Pamplona) and Antia Chamosa (1:36:16 for fifth) join their compatriots.
Even the U20 10km walkers have possibilities.
Lucia Redondo and Eva Rico, who clocked 47:50 and 48:43 respectively in Lepe, are joined by Griselda Serret, while the men are Pablo Pastor (42:38), Oscar Martinez (42:43) and Pablo Rodriguez (43:14), who finished in that order in January.
The women’s 20km team won bronze at the last edition in Taicang in 2018. That won’t happen this time, but there are plenty of other categories for Spanish success in Muscat.
As Perez put it: “Honestly, we are very proud of the level of our team, and every time we have a team competition it is a fascinating challenge for us.
“We like to compete against the best teams in the world and test our level.”
Paul Warburton for World Athletics
