Ilias Fifa returns to the team for the 10K European Cup

Carlos Mayo will be looking for his third consecutive individual podium at European Cup 10,000 meters de Pacé (France), where Spain attended a guaranteed team in both the male and female categories, where it will also compete Paula Herreranational record holder of the distance.

The Spanish delegation will be represented at the European Cup on June 3 by two complete teams of six athletes each, shortlisted after meeting the criteria established by coach José Peiró and the RFEA Sports Department.

Carlos Mayo He will lead the men’s team and will try to climb into the individual drawer for the third consecutive edition after finishing third in 2021 (with 27:25.00, the third Spanish mark in history) and second in 2022 (with 27:38.59 ). In both, he was the best in a Spanish team that won bronze and silver respectively. He was also third individually at Minsk 2017, where the team gold was hung.

In the men’s team, the presence of Roberto Alaizwho already starred in an outstanding performance at last year’s Pacé, when he finished eighth with a personal best of 28:04.01 (key to capturing collective silver), and declared himself runner-up in Spain in the 10,000 in Burjassot with 28:08.46 .

will accompany you too Juan Antonio ‘Chiki’ Perezwho will compete in the competition for the eighth consecutive time and knows what it feels like to be on the podium, because in 2015, 2016 and 2017 he won an individual silver medal, while with the team he has two golds, three silvers and a brass.

The fourth runner-up in Spain repeating this year is Iago Redwho recently won silver in the 10-kilometer Spanish Championship with a personal best of 28:21.

The men’s team is completed by the current Spanish 10,000 meter champion, Ilias FIFAwho ran Burjassot in 27:59.76, and the national bronze in the distance, Lahcen Ait Alibouwho will make his debut in the national team in Pacé.

The women’s team is the highest level of the last decade, which includes second, third and fourth in the 2023 European ranking at 10,000 meters, and three of the six fastest Spanish women in history at 10 kilometers on the route.

The national record holder Paula Herrero, will make his debut with the Pacé team after beating the 10-kilometer record (31:23), proclaiming himself national champion and hanging silver in the Spanish 10,000-meter Championship. In Burjassot, in the first track race of his career, he stopped the clock in 32:05.35, the third European race of the year.

In that race, Herrero lost Isabel Barreiroanother long-distance runner who reached the European Cup in top form after winning his first national title with 32:03.37, the second European title of 2023.

The bronze medalist in the National 10,000 meters, Cristina Ruiz, will also be seen in Pacé, where, for his companions on the podium, this is his first European Cup. Ruiz debuted in the 10,000 meters with a 32:08.70.

The debutante completes the women’s team Laura Luengo and two European Cup veterans who also know what it takes to win the collective bronze in 2019. Maitane Melerotwo-time national champion, achieved her personal best of 32:08.57 at Pacé in 2022 to finish fifth, and Ester Navarrete finished fourth at the Spanish 10,000-meter Championship with a personal best of 32:34.23 and ran also in 32: 55 at 10 km on the route.

The 10,000 meters European Cup is a competition that has traditionally been good for Spain. In the 25 editions held, the men’s team has been on the podium 21 times (ten titles, eight silvers, three bronzes) and the women’s team has done so in 14 (three titles, five silvers, six bronzes) , the last time in 2019.

The full list of shortlisted is as follows:

WOMEN: Isabel Barreiro, Paula Herrero, Laura Luengo, Maitane Melero, Ester Navarrete, Cristina Ruiz.

MEN: Lahcen Ait Alibou, Roberto Alaiz, Ilias Fifa, Carlos Mayo, Juan Antonio Pérez, Yago Rojo