Tremendous success of the Spanish march in the 35 kilometers of the European Championships in Munich. In the Bavarian morning, the Murcian Miguel Ángel López flew in an enormous way to win and hang the gold medal, which allows him to add another crown in an impressive record. In the female category, the athlete from Mataró Raquel González knew how to play her cards in an excellent way to get on the podium in second place. These are the first individual metals of the Spanish delegation in the championship after those who arrived by teams in the marathon.
In the Bavarian morning show López, 34, won in a time of 2 hours 26 minutes and 49 seconds and he liked it a lot. She celebrated it in style. The second position went to the German Christopher Linke, at 2m41s and the third came the Italian Matteo Giupponi, at 3m45s. Fourth place was taken by another Spaniard, Manuel Bermúdez, at 5m42s.
López is a seasoned man, experienced above all for many years in the 20 kilometres, an excellent competitor. The one from Llano de Brujas, world champion in 2015 and European champion in 2014 in that distance, has now sublimated the walk in the 35-kilometer race, the longest once the dying 50 have been eliminated from the program.
Always in the leading group, López hit a fantastic stretch after kilometer 10 and was taking advantage in an unstoppable and unappealable way. At a rate of just over four minutes per kilometer and with a clean and academic pace, the Spaniard opened a gap. There was more than half of the race left and many things could still happen. But what happened is that López already took a minute from the Swedish Karlström and two from the pack of pursuers where the Spaniards Manuel Bermúdez and Marc Tur were fighting, who would end up being disqualified, as in the World Cup. There was no turning back and López swept without palliative. Always with sunglasses on, always upright, elegant and powerful, the Spaniard was devouring kilometers and accumulating an advantage (more than two minutes when only the last 5,000 remained). Things were worse for his countryman Bermúdez, who was fighting for the bronze with the Italian Matteo Giupponi and who was left behind when the 30 kilometer was already reached and the two hours of competition had already been overcome. Cieza's failed to recover.
Far ahead was López, who looked at the clock and sketched a half smile because he verified that he had not had any serious downturn, but a small loss of rhythm, nothing worrying considering the difference he had. He was going to win for sure and he could enjoy it within the great effort that a test that requires this resistance supposes. He would even give a thumbs up when the bell rang for the last lap at the Munich circuit and then stop for a moment to hug his coach, José Antonio Carrillo, a father to all the athletes he coaches.
Unlike on other occasions, the men and women started at the same time because of what they found on the same circuit. Thus, while López was moving towards glory with authority in the females, the Catalan Raquel González had to fight in a much more even fight. A few meters ahead of her was the Magyar Viktoria Madarász, who opted for courage. More calculating González closely marked the Helena Antigoni Ntrismpioti. She knew that she was her rival because the Greek had been fourth in the World Cup, while the Spanish was fifth.
Both made their way until they caught and passed the Hungarian. They stayed that way until after kilometer 23 when Ntrismpioti sped up and nailed González, whose face had changed, now more suffering, the tremendous effort of the Mataró woman, who still had almost 40 seconds ahead of Madarász . The Catalan experienced, she defended her silver very well, although in the last kilometers she suffered a bird. Her drawer no longer escaped him. The first great international medal of her life was already hers. Ntrismpioti won (2 hours, 47 minutes, 0 seconds). At 2:11 minutes, González crossed the finish line. The bronze was hung by Madarász at 2m59s.
The march went back, as almost always, to the appointment with success for the Spanish delegation. And this has not ended here. On Saturday the 20 kilometers will be played, with clear options for both men and women. A country of march.
