After winning his semifinal (1n46s82) and standing in the final of the 800m, Adrián Ben (24) says:
-Today there have been forces, and then it is easier.
And he knows what he's talking about, as he has several shots at the post, his last two caps last summer, coming down from the finals as seen in the Eugene World Cups and the Munich Europeans.
-And it hasn't been easy to get here -he adds, humorous and almost beside himself, because he remembers that a few days ago he was out of the team, and then in, and in the end it was not known, neither yes nor no, because Mariano García was defoliating the daisy
How the name of Mariano García abounds these days, and that he is not here by choice.
Mariano García is the indoor world champion and outdoor European champion, and just like Ben, his name is also on the lips of Javier Mirón, the other 800 player in the semifinal, who this time has been left out:
-We are both from the town (Mirón is from Ibi, in Alicante) and we are friends, and we come from places where there is not even an athletics track -says Mirón, who has spent more than a year out of the game on account of his recurring injuries.
And Ben returns with Mariano Garcia:
-It's just that I don't see favorites -he says, while thinking about the list of finalists (the rocky Benjamin Robert, the gangly Andreas Kramer, the Belgian Elliot Crestan), meticulous as he is, and in the end he reflects-: if Mariano were there, he would would be the favourite.
And he goes off to doze, dreaming about that, with the possibility of a great international medal, he, who has played in Olympic and world finals.
Like Adrián Ben, Lorea Ibarzábal also retires to dream big.
She has been third in her 800 semifinal, capital Q, and has signed 2m01s25, her second mark ever, and it is said:
-I'm still one step away from 2m00s, let's see if (Kelly) Hodgkinson decides to run tomorrow.
Esther Guerrero (33) also shines, and she missed the podium: she is a chocolate medal in the 1,500.
In her case, she is celebrating her return to the elite, confused as she has been for almost all of 2022 and part of 2023, after her aggressive muscle tear last winter.
-If you only knew how she was two months ago -says the Banyoles mid-distance runner, who is dedication and courage and always gives her soul and now too.
I've given it my all, haven't I? -she says to whoever wants to listen, after her 4m04s86m, which is her personal best and has left her eight tenths behind the medal, Sofia Ennaui's bronze (the gold has gone to Laura Muir, in 4m03s40, one who plays in another league ; Águeda Marqués, the other Spanish, was seventh).
"If I wanted something, it was to feel competitive," says Guerrero. And that's why I've decided not to look at anyone, not Muir, not the partials. I was concentrating on what was mine, looking at my feet, something that I didn't do before, because I fought for a position and it wore me down and in the end I burst. And now I have not burst.
And when did that change? -we asked him.
-With the injury. Sitting in front of the television, or working 24 hours a day to recover, I have learned to relativize. I have done it by talking with my coach, Joan Lleonart (his usual coach at Banyoles), and with my teammates, correcting mistakes. After all, this is my job, right?
In the heptathlon, on the other hand, Jorge Ureña (29), triple European indoor podium in the heptathlon, defending the title, did not succeed.
How he despaired as the tests followed one another!
He had run the 60 in a discreet 6.96 seconds and had barely thrown 13.58m in weight, and in public, before the microphone, he resigned himself and said: "Today I am not Jorge."
And now he will hardly be able to aspire to a medal, since he is 7th, 142 points behind bronze, with three tests to go.
