Katir: “If Cheptegei seeks the record, it will be impossible to follow him”

Mohamed Katir, winner of San Silvestre Vallecana in 2021, announced this Friday that he came “better than last year”although he pointed out that if Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei goes for the record, which stands at 26:54, it will be “impossible” to fight for victory.

Katir, runner-up in Europe in the 5,000 and world bronze in the 1,500, holds the best Spanish mark in history in a 10K, he certainly achieved in 2021 at the international San Silvestre Vallecana with 27:45.

Katir’s victory last year was the first for a Spanish athlete in the Madrid race since 2003, when Chema Martínez won it.

“It’s my third year at San Silvestre. Amazing to run this beautiful race. That they compare me or say that I will do well in ten kilometers when I am not a long-distance athlete is unbelievable. It means I am doing something very big,” Katir said in a press conference.

“I came better than last year. I come here with great resistance after preparing for cross country races and I hope to handle the first five kilometers in Cheptegei“, confessed the Murcian athlete, who revealed the key that had to be given to repeat the victory.

“To win you have to give everything but below 27 minutes. Around 27:30 or 27:40 I can go to the end but if Cheptegei sets about the search for the race record it is impossible”, he concluded.

Carlos Mayocurrent champion of the Spanish 10,000 and holder of the third best mark in history in 10K on the route with 27:53, will debut in San Silvestre.

“I came to give my maximum. It’s a career I respect.. The final stretch scared me. The five thousand steps are impressive,” he stressed.