Arturo Casado of Spain running with Portugal's Rui Silva in Helsinki (© Getty Images)
What have the IAAF World Championships in Athletics and Spain’s Arturo Casado in common? Well, both were born 22 years ago. To commemorate the return to where it all began – the city of Helsinki – the Spanish 1500m specialist made a sensational breakthrough last August by taking an unexpected fifth place in final in the Finnish capital.
Casado was making his debut at a major championships but he already had a successful junior pedigree, having taken the European bronze medal in Grosseto (Italy) in 2001, a praiseworthy 6th at the World Juniors in Kingston (Jamaica) the following year, and more recently by becoming European U-23 champion in Erfurt (Germany) this summer.
Competitiveness is his best asset
Looking back to the Helsinki World Championships Casado admits that “what surprised me most was the little opposition I faced in the preliminary rounds, heat (winner) and semi-final (runner-up). I had set myself the target of reaching the final but by no means did I expect to advance to the final so comfortably.” In fact Casado seemed an experienced miler keeping the inside lane and looking back often in the home straight to make sure that his berth in the next round was not in jeopardise.
It was not until the final that tiredness appeared in his legs. “Helsinki was my first 3-round competition and I did not have the same freshness than in the previous races. To be honest I even thought of a medal before the final but my fifth place makes me extremely happy as that’s something I could not have dreamt of barely one year ago.”
His 2005 personal best of 3:35.64 for the 1500m – the slowest time among the 12 finalists in Helsinki – might seem far off what will be required to put himself in the medal picture in the years to come but Casado’s best asset is his already renowned competitiveness.
The prodigiously talented Spaniard has never worried at all about times. “My primary goal are the major championships outdoors and my build-up will always be 100% focused on performing as brilliantly as possible on such occasions rather than running fast times throughout the season. For instance, at the Europeans Junior in Grosseto I only ranked fifth among the competitors but I took the bronze medal and still led the race with 30m to go.”
From fifth nationally to fifth internationally in barely one year
Casado’s improvement has been huge over the last 12 months. Aged 21, he hardly placed among the first 100 athletes - 87th - on the 2004 world list thanks to a 3:38.04 performance and had to settle for fifth at the Spanish championships in the summer of 2004. So the question on everyone’s lips is: how is it possible to turn a fifth place at domestic level to a fifth position at the Worlds?
“Everyone knows that there is a very high standard in the 1500m in my country so if you make the Spanish team for the major event you have already done much of the task”. To strengthen Casado’s words, it should be mentioned that Spain was the only nation with three athletes in the Helsinki 1500m final.
Unforgettable month of July
Casado enjoyed a wonderful string of successes in the weeks leading up to the World Championships in Helsinki as he managed three gold medals in a span of only 24 days: firstly, at the Mediterranean Games held in Almería (Spain) on 1 July, the rising middle distance star beat Morocco’s Adil Kaouch by the narrow margin of 17 hundredths (3:45.61 versus 3:45.78). “That win was an enormous moral booster as it was my first victory at a senior level on the international scene. Some people undervalued my win but I beat Adil Kaouch who became World silver medallist one month later in Helsinki.”
On 17 July, Casado lived up to his status as clear favourite at the European U23 championships and snatched an overwhelming victory in 3:47:02. Seven days later he took a majestic victory in the Spanish Championships ahead of Juan Carlos Higuero and Reyes Estévez in a pedestrian 3:48.75.
His three victories had been taken in the 3:45-3:50 range which clearly suggests he is a fast finisher whose chances of winning increase dramatically in tactical races, as he openly confirms:
“Yes, I’m very confident in my last 200m since the strength is one of my strongest points. For instance, Kenya’s Daniel Kipchirchir Komen may be a 3:29 runner, a performance which is not within my capabilities for now but in a slow race I feel that I’ll always be able to beat him as it happened in the Helsinki heat.”
First ever 80kilo 1500m ace
In the near future, Casado could well re-write the history of the 1500m… in physical terms at least! He is quite tall (1.87m) but that figure is not uncommon in his specialist event. What is definitely noticeable is his weight as he explains: “right now at the beginning of the season my weight is 82 kilograms; then, when the indoor campaign approaches its pinnacle in March it usually goes down to 80 and only at my peak during the summer does my weight decrease below the 80 kilos barrier; my ideal weight in top form is around 78k.”
A close look to the statistics of the greatest middle distance athletes in history is enough to find out that Casado is much heavier than all his illustrious predecessors in the World 1500m elite. Not even the tallest milers such as Britain’s Steve Cram (1.86m/69k) or America’s Steve Scott (1.86/73) match Casado’s weight, and only Somalia’s World 1987 champion Abdi Bile (1.85/75) brings closer to Casado’s figures.
“It’s true that the 800m is likely the event which bests suits my body but my coach Arturo Martín realised from my early days in athletics that I had reasonable stamina and focused my career towards the 1500m and that plan has paid off. Endurance work is not a problem for me and my coach has scheduled quite a few weeks of up to 160 kilometres in November and December so my training in winter is very much alike to a distance runner.”
Moscow and Gothenburg medal hunt
Looking ahead at the next World Indoor championships to be held in Moscow (10-12 March 2006) Casado announces, “I will be there fighting for a medal. The bends in the indoor facilities are too tight for me as I’m quite big but I hope to be in great shape by then and don’t rule out anything.” With regard to the Europeans outdoors in Gothenburg, Sweden, the rising star says: “Portugal’s Rui Silva, Ukraine’s Ivan Heshko and France’s Mehdi Baala are slightly above the rest but I was the third European in the Helsinki final and reasonably I should be battling to make the podium.”
Would you accept a European silver medal now if it was offered? “Of course” he adamantly answers, “that would be a step forward in my career”. In Sweden, he will try to take revenge from what occurred at the 2005 Europeans indoors in Madrid where Casado missed the bronze medal by just 0.04 seconds to compatriot Reyes Estévez.
On Ramzi…
Asked on whether Bahrain’s World 1500m champion Rashid Ramzi will become ‘a new El Guerrouj’ in terms of world 1500 ruling Casado answers: “it’s still early days to say that; anyway there is an array of promising youngsters - and I consider myself among them - trying to deny him top spot in the next competitions.”
Would have Lagat beaten Ramzi in Helsinki? “I don’t think so. His double 1500/800 there was what impressed me most from the whole championships because either he had a very good recovery from the 1500m event efforts or he did not need to perform at his 100% in that distance.”
Beijing 2008 Olympics better than London 2012
Assessing his 1500m Olympic chances, Casado believes that “had I been asked on this matter one year ago my response would have been, ‘OK, I think that Beijing Olympics comes too soon for me and I’ll probably reach my peak in London four years later,’ but after my 2005 season I firmly think that I’ll already be competitive in Beijing.”
At least the statistics are in his favour since his fellow countrymen José Manuel Abascal and Fermín Cacho also placed fifth in their respective first appearances at the Worlds (Abascal in 1983 and Cacho in 1991) and both became Olympic medallists (Abascal bronze in Los Angeles 1984, and Cacho gold in Barcelona 1992) in the following Olympic Games.
Emeterio Valiente for the IAAF