Santacreu and Meilán dream of joint Spanish success in Lima

Sofía Santacreu may have been injured in the months prior to the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships Antalya 24 but her competitive streak helped her excel once again on the international scene.

The European U18 and U20 champion sustained an injury in her tibialis last November and her training regime was seriously hampered until March when she could finally resume training, just in time for the global event in Antalya.

Her only race in the lead-up to that came five weeks before heading to Antalya, clocking a PB of 45:25 over 10km in Valencia. Then, when it really mattered in the Turkish city, Santacreu once again broke her PB to finish third in 45:17.

China, represented by Yang Xizhen, Chen Meiling and Duo Jiecuo, were heavily favoured to take the individual and team victories. Yang took the individual title, but Aldara Meilán and Santacreu prevented a Chinese sweep of the podium by finishing second and third respectively, and then led Spain to gold in the team standings.

“In the weeks prior to Antalya, I felt as though simply competing in Antalya was a gift because I’d almost ruled out being there,” said Santacreu. “Fortunately, I recovered on time – perhaps not 100%, but enough to be competitive.

“My teammates Aldara Meilán and Griselda Serret and I were confident of making the podium in the team competition, but honestly we didn’t expect to win gold.”

Since that competition, Santacreu has intentionally eased her training load before starting her preparations for the World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24. The 18-year-old will be aiming for another podium finish at the global event in the Peruvian capital, but she’s not taking anything for granted.

“It will be my first season training throughout the summer, so I’m not sure how my body will respond,” says the Barcelona-born Santacreu. “I’ll also try to align my body clock to Lima’s time zone so that I won’t suffer from jet lag.”

When she talks about Meilán – arguably one of her toughest opponents in her quest for a berth in Lima – she does so with undisguised affection. “I admire her,” she says. “She is so strong, both physical and mentally, and I like her race walking style. I think we are quite similar in many ways.”

Santacreu took up race walking at the age of 14 after practising ballet in her early childhood, but when the pandemic hit, it interrupted her progression. She took advantage of the confinement, however, to help others.

“A family friend suggested that I make some basic exercise charts for children admitted to the hospital that were easy to understand and do,” she explains. “I thought it was a great idea so I set about drawing. After a year and I half, we’d created a comprehensive book.”

The profits of the book, entitled 'Entrena con Sofia' (‘Training with Sofia’), have been donated to several social causes.

“I’m very grateful of the warm reception and the love that the people who have received the book have given to our work,” she says.

Earlier this year, Santacreu left her long-term coach Sergio Ezquerro and started training with Alejandro Aragoneses, coach to Paul McGrath. But Santacreu’s philosophy remains the same.

“Beyond medals and age-group records, athletics allows me to get to know myself and grow as a person through the great experiences I’m living and the nice people I get to know,” says Santacreu, who will begin her university studies in physiotherapy in September after graduating at the French Lyceum in Barcelona.

As a 17-year-old, Meilán is too young to get the Spanish car driving license or take a flight without her parents’ permission, but she showed great maturity in Antalya.

She entered the event as the newly-minted national champion, thanks to a 45:04 clocking in Zaragoza a couple of months earlier, but like with Santacreu, her performance in the Turkish coastal city exceeded expectations.

“Of course, we were aware we had a good chance of taking a team medal but we didn’t expect to take gold ahead of China,” she said. “I’m really proud of my teammates Sofía and Griselda (sixth) as we displayed the current high level of Spanish race walking. And the team gold medal gives me more joy than the individual runner-up spot.

“Surprisingly for us, the race started slowly, but then our coaches advised us to take the lead and set a quicker rhythm and that tactic eventually paid off.”

After going through the half-way point in 23:20, Meilán covered the second half in a swift 21:52 for an overall time of 45:12, just six seconds behind the winner.

Though she loves race walking now, it wasn’t love at first sight for Meilán.

“I used to do different disciplines when I took up athletics, but race walking didn’t really attract my attention,” she recalls. “I remember I used to do technical exercises quite carelessly, but everything changed at a training camp when I joined a group of race walkers coached by my now lifelong coach Javier Piñeiro, who told me I could be good at it.”

Piñeiro was right, and it wasn’t long before Meilán achieved her first success on the international scene. Two years ago, she earned silver over 5000m at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Banska Bystrica, then the following season she finished second in the U20 10km at the European Race Walking Team Championships in Podebrady.

Having earned a third successive championships silver medal in Antalya, Meilán will have an opportunity to compete for gold in Lima. But for her, a gold medal isn’t the be-all and end-all.

“The World U20 Championships is still two months away and a lot of things could happen during then, so my only plan now is to remain focused on my daily training,” she said. “I wouldn’t predict anything right now; I guess the Chinese athletes will be fighting for the medals alongside Sofía and hopefully myself, let’s see what happens there.

“Simply knowing that I have given it 100% in a competition, regardless of where I finish, is by far the most important thing to me,” she added. “Having said that, I’m also very ambitious. But every event is different, and I’ll always be satisfied, provided I do my very best.”

The admiration that Santacreu has for Meilán is very much reciprocated. “I really admire Sofía,” says Meilán. “She’s really hard working and is so nice and always cares about others. I consider her a friend rather than a rival; it’s great to be on the same team as her at international championships. We’re at a very similar level and either one of us can beat the other on any given day. I’m so happy for everything she achieves and she for me, I’m sure.”

Just a few days after the World U20 Championships, Meilán will turn 18 and move to Madrid – about 500km away from her hometown – to begin her university studies in physical education. By then, another medal could well be hanging around her neck, or Santacreu’s. Or even both.

Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics