Ingebrigtsen, Tentoglou, Mechaal, Bol, Jacobs and Muir, stars in Istanbul

the norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen seeks to win two gold medals, in the 1,500 and 3,000, at the European indoor track in Istanbul (Turkey)where most of the spotlights are on him and other figures such as his compatriot Karsten Warholm (400 hurdles), the Italian sprinter Marcell Jacobs, the Greek jumper Miltiadis Tentoglou, the British Laura Muir ( 1,500), the Dutch Femke Bol ( 400) and the Spanish middle distance runner Adel Mechaal.

Ingebrigtsen, 22 years old and Olympic champion in the 1,500 and world champion in the 5,000, He will again run two events at an indoor continental championship, as he did at Glasgow 2019 (gold in 3,000 and silver in 1,500) and Torun 2021 (gold in 1,500 and 3,000).

His debut this season was on February 15, at the rally of Lievin (France), in a 1,500-meter race where he showed his superiority by imposing himself with authority with a time of 3:32.38, two seconds from breaking his record. in the world, and crossed the finish line first, leading Frenchman Azzedine Habz by almost three seconds, stopping the clock in 3:35.27.

Karsten Warholm was also on the Norwegian expedition in Istanbulworld record holder and Olympic champion in the 400 hurdles, who will run in the 400 meters, a distance in which he already won gold in Glasgow four years ago.

The other Tokyo 2020 Olympic champions come to Istanbul with the aim of continuing to extend their record as the Italian Marcell Jacobs (100), the German Malaika Mihambo and the Greek Miltiadis Tentoglou (long jump)the Portuguese Pedro Pichardo (triple jump) and the Belgian Nafissatou Thiam (heptathlon).

The spotlight will also be put on herself by Dutch Femke Bol, who recently, with a time of 49.26, broke the indoor world record of 400 meters held by Czechoslovakian Jarmila Kratochvilova since 1982 with 49.29.

Another athlete looking to star is Swiss Jason Joseph, who tops the 2023 European ranking of 60 hurdles with a national record of 7.44, ahead of an emerging generation of young European athletes such as the Spanish Enrique Llopis (7.48), the Polish Jakub Szymanski (7.53) and the French Just Kwaou-Mathey (7.53),

Women’s 800 points to victory for British Keely Hodgkinson, indoor champion at Torun 2021 and outdoors at Munich 2022, while the 1,500 seems right for her compatriot Laura Muir, who has already heard her country’s anthem from the top of the podium at Belgrade 2017 and Glasgow 2019.

THE SPANISH TEAM

The Spanish delegation consists of 29 athletes (19 men and 10 women), it includes four of the five medalists at the final European Championship in Torun 2021, starting with continental 400-meter champion Óscar Husillos. The man from Palencia regained his best level on the indoor track this season and is on a roll after breaking the Spanish record and securing the third World Athletics indoor circuit win of his career in Madrid, the first since 2019.

The squad also includes Jorge Ureña, twice runner-up (2017 and 2021). and a heptathlon European champion (2019), who recently won his fifth national title, approaching his record from Spain. With 6173 points, it occupied the third position in the continental ranking in 2023.

Adel Mechaal, European bronze at Torun 2021 in the 3,000, will seek to improve his position from two years ago supported by 7:30.82 where he broke the European record in 2022 and this year Katir took it from him. This winter, his great performance was crowned by the impressive mark achieved in Birmingham in the 1,500 (3:33.28) and which meant breaking the national record for the indoor distance held by Andrés Díaz since 1999.

Finally, Jesús Gómez will try to get his third straight medal in the 1500 after the bronzes of 2019 and 2021. In 2023 he ran three times below 3:38 and with 3:36.33 he showed the sixth best mark of the year among those registered at the European Championship.

In addition to these four, two other continental medalists are in Istanbul. They are four-centrists Manuel Guijarro and Lucas Búa, runners-up in the 4×400 indoor track at Glasgow 2019.

The Catalan middle-distance runner Esther Guerrero, current 1,500-meter Spanish champion, will be looking to make up for fifth place in Torun two years ago. He will face this European Championship after beating his own Spanish record for the mile with 4:24.92 in Boston (United States), achieving the best Spanish brand of the year in 1500 meters with 4:06.70.

The Spanish team includes a notable list of absenceslike the medalists of the last European open-air event in Munich (Mariano García in the 800, Mohamed Katir in the 5,000, Mario García Romo in the 1,500 and Asier Martínez in the hurdles), the first three by their own decision and the last because of a final minute damage. time.

Spain has always been on the podium since 1985. The biggest loot was in Madrid 2005 with 12 medals. In the last edition, in Torun 2021, the balance was five medals (one gold, two silver and two bronze).