Spain's rise in the relays on show in Guangzhou

There was a question many fans were asking during the World Athletics Relays Guangzhou 25, particularly in the women’s events, as the yellow and orange vests were to the fore in various races: when did Spain get so good at relays?

First, there was their victory in qualification round one of the women’s 4x100m, their quartet of Esperanca Cladera, Jael Bestue, Paula Sevilla and Maria Isabel Perez setting a national record of 42.18 to defeat a formidable Jamaican line-up of Tina Clayton, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Tia Clayton and Shericka Jackson. 

A day later, they proved it was no fluke. Finishing ahead of Jamaica, and USA, Spain claimed the runner-up spot behind Great Britain & Northern Ireland in the final, clocking 42.28. 

Then, in the women’s 4x400m final, Sevilla, Eva Santidrian, Daniela Fra and Blanca Hervas teamed up to take victory, clocking a national record of 3:24.13 to beat USA (3:24.72) and South Africa (3:24.84). 

Before last weekend, Spain had never made the podium at the World Relays. They have only one relay medal in the history of the World Athletics Indoor Championships – a silver in the men’s 4x400m from 2022 – and no relay medals on the track at the World Athletics Championships or at the Olympics. 

But here they were, mixing it with the sprint superpowers, with another national record falling in the mixed 4x400m as David Garcia, Carmen Aviles, Samuel Garcia and Blanca Hervas clocked 3:12.55 to win the second qualification round and book a place at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 later this year. 

So, how did Spain get so good at relays?

“That’s a good question,” said Bestue, who was part of the mixed and women’s 4x100m teams in Guangzhou. “We do a lot of relay camps to improve our relay team because we think it’s a big opportunity for us in international championships. We work on the changes and work so hard on the confidence – to trust in our teammates.”

Bestue faced disappointment in the mixed 4x100m in Guangzhou, her handoff to a male teammate, Adria Alfonso, going wrong and seeing them break the zone, but there were no such issues in the women’s 4x100m an hour later – the Spaniards’ slick exchanges on show as they powered to victory in a national record. 

“We have a plan, we follow the plan,” said Bestue. “We do the training camps, we train together, we push each other. We are a good team. We do a lot of activities together; we are like sisters.”

Hervas, who anchored Spain to victory and a national record in the women’s 4x400m, believes team spirit is key to their rise, with the relay squads coming together several times each year for training camps, working on exchanges but also sharing ideas and feeding off each other.

“Obviously, 99% of our work is at home with our coaches, but then getting together and having that really good relationship – we’re in touch the whole year,” she said. “That helps us share our goals.”

Santidrian ran the second leg for the women’s 4x400m team, splitting their fastest leg of 50.58, and she believes there’s more to success than a collection of strong individuals. 

“The best thing we have is that we’re really close friends and I feel like that makes us run all together so if one of us gets better, all of us get better.” She said. “We’re young and we’re growing together. Also, our national coaches are helping with a lot of training camps.”

Spain had only ever reached one global championships final in the women’s 4x400m – in 1991 – and their time of 3:27.57 from that race stood as the national record until last year, when it was broken at the World Relays. They hadn’t sent a women’s 4x400m team to the Olympics between 1996 and 2021, or the World Championships between 2003 and 2019. But their current success owes much to a seed that was planted a long time ago, then nurtured with investment and a focus on strengthening relay teams. 

“Basically, it’s a lot of work that we started eight, nine years ago,” said Jose Peiro Guixot, the national coach with the Spanish athletics federation (RFEA). “Thanks to that (investment), we can improve everything and we hope to still have this investment in the relays to continue improving. We created a national relay plan and started to work with all the teams and, slowly, we started to revive things. We’re not at the finish line. Despite the success today, we don’t want to stop. We want to continue working.”

He said the team “dreamt of two gold medals” in Guangzhou but added that the return of one first place and one second place – leaving them third overall behind South Africa and USA – was a “very good result”.

Andoni Calbano was part of a youthful Spanish quartet that competed in an additional mixed 4x100m race on Sunday and he said the performances of the women in Guangzhou were “very inspiring” for the entire team. 

“How they work, how their attitude is for the competition, everything they say,” he explained. “Individually, we are not the best (nation) so the changes must be good, and you can see that in the women’s 4x1 – they did it perfectly.”

Perez took the baton in front in the women’s 4x100m final and while she was passed by British anchor Success Eduan, she held off the formidable challenge of Jamaica’s Jackson and USA’s Twanisha Terry to claim a memorable second place. 

“I felt very nervous when I could see the other team is so close,” she said. “I was very stressed, and I just told myself to run faster and faster.”

Even better was to come in the women’s 4x400m final, where the team nicknamed the ‘Golden Bubbles’ in Spain powered to victory, anchored by a superb 50.59 second leg from Hervas. 

“Myself and all of them never felt like this before,” said Hervas. “We are crazy excited: gold medal, World Relays champion, national record, everything. It’s my biggest dream. To our coaches, to our families, thank you for everything. This is their medal, too.”

It marked a magnificent end to an unforgettable weekend for Spain, and in terms of their rise in relays, it might only be the beginning. 

“Our mind is always thinking about the Olympics, so our first goal is to get as many teams as possible at the Olympics,” said Peiro, the national coach. “After that, (it’s to) have as many teams as possible in the Olympic finals. After that, after what we have seen today, why not dream of medals?”

Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics