-How do you see Sifan Hassan's options in 1,500? -asked me Jesús España, European champion of the 5,000 in 2006, these days TVE commentator in Budapest.
"Sifan Hassan is unpredictable," I would answer.
(Well, Hassan (30), multi-world champion, has just won the London marathon this spring and almost won the 10,000 m on Sunday in Budapest, she would have won it if she had not tripped on the frames, when she was sprinting with Gudaf Tsegay, and it is also registered in the 5,000).
So it was time to wait and watch Hassan, the Dutch woman who always comes out in the tail and passes rivals lap after lap, a Malaysian drop that runs from behind to front, like the scythe that cuts our necks, to end up fighting in the last stretch, in this time in unequal conditions, since the Kenyan Faith Kipyegon (29) plays in another league.
There has never really been a battle between Hassan and Kipyegon, the mother who lives and trains at Eliud Kipchoge's high-performance center in Kaptagat, the woman who this summer has broken three world records (1,500, the mile and 5,000), too much weight for any rival, even for Hassan.
So, while the Dutchwoman evolved from behind and Gianmarco Tamberi, the Italian who jumps with one shoe of each color, rose towards his first world title in height (2.36m), Kipyegon led the test, taking the group towards the 800 in 2:11:78, and he never let go of his head, crossing the kilometer in 2:43s and then accelerating violently to sign 1:11s in the last 500, a brilliant partial even in an international men's event, a marvel for the senses and an excess for Hassan, who had just finished third (3m56s00), more than a second behind the champion.
(Between the two slipped the Ethiopian Diribe Welteji, in 3m55s69).
And while Wayde van Niekerk, the 400 world record holder, continued to pay for his imprudence (in the fall of 2017 he had broken his knee in a rugby exhibition match; he has never been the same again) and sweated ink to access the final of the 400, third and only classified by times (44s65), the eight hundredth Spanish have lived a delicious Tuesday.
The three specialists have passed the first round, something that had not happened since the 2011 Daegu World Cups (then Antonio Reina, Kevin López and Luis Alberto Marco had done it).
-What a margin he had granted to his rivals. It seemed that the train was leaving! -Adrián Ben (25) was told in the mixed zone.
(Ben had just won his heat, in 1m45s37, after crossing the first 200 five meters behind the rivals).
-Was the train leaving? Where to? -he answered, charismatic, always very fast in his speech, the phenomenon of Viveiro (Lugo), European gold in the room this past winter, finalist in Doha 2019, finalist in Tokyo 2020-. What happens is that the train was ahead. From behind, I was looking at all of them, I saw them go by in 24s in the first 200, and I thought: 'They will explode for sure. You, at your pace'. And then I have reached them, I have tried to go inside and in the end, outside. And I have practiced kickboxing with Bryce Hoppel (the American is also still standing), and from there, to the fullest.
-And do you see superheroes in this 800? The test seems quite open -she commented to him.
-I do not see them. But neither am I, I'm just a guy who really likes to run.
Adrian Ben likes to run, but he also likes to give advice.
-Head, head, don't make unnecessary changes, don't get into unnecessary fights -Ben had told Mohamed Attaoui (21), the latest talent in the Spanish midfielder, runner-up in Europe U23 of 1,500 who, he says himself, is beginning to feel Better on the 800.
-Yes, I feel more like an 800-year-old -Attaoui confessed after passing the third round of his series, in 1m46s65-. In the 800, I'm getting great marks with little training time, when I've spent two years insisting on the 1,500...
And Saúl Ordóñez (29), the 2018 world indoor bronze medalist, Spanish 800 record holder since that same year, who had moved with magnificent solvency in a slow series (third also, in 1m47s97).
-I arrived here at my best moment, and that's why I was calm, even when I saw the 53-second partial on the first lap.
(This Thursday, all of them return to the scene, already in the semifinals).
