Spain won the bronze medal in the mixed marathon relay at the World Walking Championships in Antalya (Turkey), boosted by the third place of Álvaro Martín from Extremadura and Laura García Caro from Huelva, and also qualified two teams for the Paris Olympic Games.
The victory of the trial went to the Italian relay formed by Francesto Fortunato and Valentina Trapletti, which stopped the clock at 2h56:45. Second were Japanese relievers Koki Ikeda and Kumiko Okada (2h57:04) and third were Álvaro Martín and Laura García Caro (2h57:47), who benefited from a penalty by the Brazilian relief team in front.
The second Spanish relay, formed by Alberto Amezcua and Cristina Montesinos, came in seventh place with 3h00:37, and the third, made up of double world champion María Pérez and Miguel Ángel López, reached tenth finish line with 3h02:43.
María, who returned to compete after months of inactivity due to a sacral injury, received a red card after the last post and had to stop in the pit-lane for three minutes, an incident that relegated her substitute in the classification.
By country, victory went to Italy and second place on the podium went to Japan with Spain third.
With these results, Spain fulfilled the main goal it set, to qualify two teams for the Olympic Games. In order to do this, two teams had to rank in the top twenty-two overall in the event.
Source: La Verdad
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