Arturo Casado (bib 12) leading the 1500m final at the 2009 Spanish indoor champs (© Juan José Úbeda)
As has become tradition, the middle distance events were the main focus at the Spanish Indoor Championships held over the weekend (21-22 February), as the country's best athletes geared up for the European Indoor Championships to be held in Turin (Italy) next 6-8 March.
Jesús España in the men’s 3000m and Arturo Casado over 1500m became the standout athletes throughout the weekend alongside Luis Alberto Marco in the men’s 800 in the men’s side. On the women’s section, also the longer distances provided the highlights with Natalia Rodríguez (1500m) and Nuria Fernández (3000).
Casado wins against the odds
All eyes were set on Sunday’s men’s 1500m final as no less than four Spaniards had clocked inside 3:38.50 at the IAAF permit in Valencia last Saturday (14) and so the battle for the team berths on offer promised to be fierce even in the absence of Juan Carlos Higuero whose winter campaign has been hampered through an Achilles tendon injury.
To add more drama to the event, reigning European Indoor 1500m bronze medallist Arturo Casado (3:38.43) had suffered a triple loss in Valencia to Diego Ruiz (3:36.42), Álvaro Fernández (3:37.37) and Álvaro Rodríguez (3:38.10).
The race opened at a pedestrian pace with all the nine finalists covering the first 400m in 1:05.70 to go through the 800m point in only a slightly quicker pace of 2:08.71. The 26-year-old Casado was in full command of the race taking advantage of his powerful body which is not easy to overtake on the tight bends of an indoor track.
After a brisk 57.19 400m section Casado still led and he managed to keep the others at bay in the closing 300m, which took him 41.06, to retain his 2008 title, while Ruiz, the second fastest European 1500m athlete this season, took second 23 hundredths in arrears to complete a full sheet of medals (gold in 2007, bronze in 2008 and silver in 2009).
Reigning European U-23 champion Álvaro Rodríguez was about to pip Ruiz in the closing stages but had finally to settle for third barely 0.03s adrift of Ruiz while Fernández’s fifth place left him without a chance of being selected for the European indoors.
Casado was exultant about his win: “I only could place fourth among the Spaniards last weekend in Valencia but today I have showed what I’m capable of. This win means to retain my title and now I look forward to competing in Turin where the Spaniards will defend our historic 1500m clean sweep of medals from Birmingham. It’s true that our number one Juan Carlos Higuero won’t be there but our squad is quite strong and I’m confident of getting a medal,” confirmed Casado.
España is the 3000m boss
Reigning European 5000m champion and 3000m indoor bronze medallist Jesús España kicked off the season on the boards as the main 3000m Spanish reference point but he was surprisingly beaten by Sergio Sánchez – an eight placed at last year’s World indoor championships in Valencia – last Saturday in Valencia, with respective times of 7:43.41 and 7:47.46.
After extremely slow splits of 2:53.46 and 5:35.06, the 26-year-old Sánchez, who was defending his title from last year, unleashed a devastating kick with 400m to go which was only responded to by Jesús España and his brother Francisco, himself a 2005 European U-23 1500m bronze medallist.
At the bell Sánchez still ran in front but España made his move with 150m left to pass Sánchez with relative ease and record his fourth 3000m indoor national title with an unremarkable 8:04.16 time and a 0.38s advantage on his Valencia’s conqueror. Francisco España took a comfortable third in 8:06.57. The final 400m only took 54.0 seconds for the in-form España.
“I’m delighted especially for my brother’s third place; that’s more important for me than my gold medal. As for the race I knew Sánchez arrived in top form and any of us could take the win. Fortunately I managed to follow him closely after his change of gear and overtake him over the last lap."
On his Europeans ambitions, the 30-year-old was cautious: “I’ll face there many dangerous rivals such as Britain’s Mo Farah, France’s Bouabdallah Tahri and my fellow Spaniard Sergio Sánchez among others. My aim is to improve on my two bronze medals I took in Vienna 2002 and Birmingham 2007 but obviously that task won’t be a piece of cake."
800m: Marco reigns at home
The men’s 800m produced a major shock in the semifinal round as the Spanish record holder and former World Cup winner Antonio Reina (SB of 1:47.85) didn’t advance to the final after a tight closing metres with the 18-year-old rising star David Bustos (SB of 1:48.26), the latter getting the better of Reina by 0.06s.
On the eve of the champs the home crowd dreamt of a clean sweep of medals for the Seville-native trio of Luis Alberto Marco (SB of 1:47.14, fourth placed at last Europeans in Birmingham), Spanish outdoor champion Manuel Olmedo, plus Reina, who had broken the Spanish 500m record earlier in the week with a 1:02.00 time also on the same track.
The final became the usual cagey championships affair with the opening 400m taking 56.74. Over the last lap Marco took command of the race which he didn’t relinquish and retained his 2008 title with a 1:50.69 performance. The fight for the minor places on the podium was exciting with three athletes in the guise of Olmedo, Miguel Quesada y Bustos covered by barely five hundredths of a second, with the former prevailing in 1:51.16.
The 22-year-old Marco is the second fastest European 800 specialist so far this season only bettered by Russia’s Yuriy Borzakovskiy.
Rodríguez and Fernández show fine form
After cruising to a massive world leading performance of 4:01.77 in the women’s 1500m last weekend, Nuria Fernández lined-up on this occasion over 3000m to grab an overwhelming win in 9:24.67.
The Olympic 1500m sixth placer Natalia Rodríguez was an unchallenged victor in her specialist event breaking the championships record in the process thanks to a 4:12.22 effort. The manner of her win suggests she’s not far from the kind of form which led her to a stunning 1500m outdoor NR of 3:59.51 in Rieti back in 2005. She became a mother in mid-2007 so taking time out from the sport on maternity leave.
Quiñónez and Onyia take hurdles wins
Drawn in lane 5 the powerful Jackson Quiñónez (1.90m /91 kgs) executed a nearly perfect race to secure a 7.66sec victory although the 28-year-old reigning European bronze medallist could not match his form from last year when he set the current national record of 7.52.
Josephine Onyia, the Nigerian-born athlete succeeded with a 8.03sec clocking in the women's hurdles after dipping under the 8.00 barrier (7.97) in her semifinal to strengthen her status as the fastest European woman this indoor campaign.
Elsewhere…
The men’s 200m event witnessed the success of a 16-year-old athlete named Alberto Gavaldá. Still in the Youth category, the Zaragoza-born sprinter startled the crowd with a 21.37 display – even with a poor reaction time of 0.201s – to build a massive 0.45 margin on his closest opponent. The win in the 60m flat went for Ángel Rodríguez in a SB of 6.69, while Santiago Ezquerro snatched the 400 title in 47.39.
Manuel Martínez’s 16-year-old indoor shot putting dominance came to an end on Saturday when Borja Vivas’s fifth heave of 19.33m bettered Martínez’s opening round of 19.28. Vivas added a further centimetre to his win in the final round.
Reigning European High Jump bronze medallist Ruth Beitia (SB of 1.98) had an easy win with a second-attempt 1.93m clearance.
International appearance
It’s worth mentioning that Cuba’s Alexis Copello – who performed as a guest athlete – leapt to PB of 17.17m in the men’s Triple Jump thanks to his opening effort, which raises him to the third place on this season’s world list. In the Heptathlon, the Cuban pair of Yordanis García and National record holder Leonel Suárez impressed the crowd with respective scorings of 5905 for García (PB) and 5891 for Suárez.
Emeterio valiente for the IAAF
