How different are Adel Mechaal and Mo Katir, the two 1,500 m heavyweights in our country, perhaps the heirs of those duels between Abascal and González, or between Cacho, Viciosa, Díaz and Estévez.
Mechaal speaks as if there were no tomorrow, he spins the carbon fiber shoes, delves into the work systems and the quality of the stadium's synthetic material – "it's as fast as the one from the Tokyo 2020 Games" -, he analyzes his rivals, such as the already inevitable Jakob Ingebrigtsen, "that man who cleans up the races so as not to have problems at the end".
Katir laments, he hates going through the mixed zone, stopping to talk to journalists.
-If this is just the tie, if it's not the final, why do I have to talk nowaaaa...?- he complains.
And he answers with monosyllables.
-I just wanted to push the rhythm because, if we end up twenty, anyone can upset you- he says, and also says that he does not look at the rest of the rivals, but at himself, and that he trusts his methods and the tip of work that he has executed in his last weeks in Sierra Nevada.
Both have gone to the semifinals of the 1,500 today, each in their own way and without trouble: Mechaal is fourth in his series (3m34s35), which Ingebrigtsen wins, and Katir is second in his (3m34s34) after the phenomenal Laros, 19-year-old Dutchman, the last pearl of the European midfielder (U20 continental champion of 1,500 and 5,000).
Mario García Romo, the third Spaniard, and, in the women's events, Esther Guerrero and Marta Pérez, author of some sensational 4m01s41, have also advanced.
Only Águeda Marqués has been left out, with 4m06s41.
