Paul McGrath from Barcelona, Diego García Carrera and Álvaro López from Madrid, Marc Tur from the Balearic Islands and Iván López from Murcia made Spain world champion by country in the 20 kilometer walk in Antalya (Turkey), in which the women's team won bronze. .
The recent Spanish distance champion, Paul McGrath, at 22 years old, confirmed his progression with a fantastic race to finish second with a time of 1h19:14. Only the Swede Perseus Karlström, world runner-up in Budapest 2023, was ahead, who was first with 1h18:49.
Third, on the individual podium, finished Diego García Carrera, who knew how to suffer at the right moment to hold on in the leading group and arrive well positioned in the final kilometers, in which he accelerated to stop the clock at 1h19:51.
Álvaro López, with 1h20:20, a personal best, finished ninth, securing gold for Spain. Iván López was twenty-eighth with 1h22:18 and Marc Tur twenty-ninth with 1h22:27.
In the team classification, Spain was first with 14 points, half that of Japan, second with 28. Italy third with 36. Mexico was fourth with 59.
This is the second gold for Spain in the men's category in the 20 kilometer walk at a World Cup by country. The first was in La Coruña in 2006.
In the absolute women's category, Spain took bronze in the 20 kilometer walk with 31 points. The first was China with 15 points, the same as Peru, second.
The first Spaniard was Lidia Sánchez-Puebla, eighth with a personal best with 1h30:24, followed by Antía Chamosa, ninth with 1h30:32, also with a personal best. Paula Juárez was fourteenth (1h31:56) and Lucia Redondo was twenty-first (1h33:03).
For Spain, in the absolute women's 20 km category, this is the fourth world medal by country after the gold in Saranks (Russia) in 2012, the silver in Chihuahua (Mexico) in 2010 and the bronze in Cheboksary (Russia) in 2008.
