Gold from Spain in the mixed walking relay!

Spain’s big, historic gold in the first marching relay at the Olympic Games. As the forecast indicated, the ‘dream team’ formed by two individual world champions, María Pérez and Álvaro Martín, took the gold medal with absolute superiority on the Trocadero circuit. The Spanish duo added the shared title to the silver and bronze they achieved a few days ago in the 20 kilometers. In the moment of truth they had no rivals and won with a time of 2h50:31 and a huge advantage of 51 seconds over Ecuador and 1’07” over Australia. The Ecuadorians’ problems on the cards due to irregular progress definitely marked the final stretch and made the final relay starring María Pérez very comfortable.

Under the Eiffel Tower, on the same one-kilometer circuit as the individual walk, the mixed relay was more than an experiment, perhaps an important day for walking, which for many years felt like a nuisance to the idea of ​​World’s athletics . . Nor does it give the characteristics of an Olympic bull, on the contrary. The march is troubled by its long duration and the difficult and controversial application of regulations, the limit between marching and running. The intermediate compromise was to do away with the long 50 km test and instead invent a mixed relay, although to add confusion to a distance that had little to do with walking while the marathon was chosen. Four relays emerged from the fray in this premiere, man-woman-man-woman, in teams of two, about 10 kilometers. Consequences: high rhythm due to the short distance of each partial, physical recovery time for those who walk between post and post, and an important role of tactics, playing red cards that, from the third forward , was sent to the refrigerator ‘. on the march in three minutes. The script is clear to all: be conservative in the eyes of the judges in the first part to be able to take risks in the end.

In that context, having a couple like Álvaro Martín and María Pérez, current 20 km world champions and Olympic medalists just a few days ago in Paris, is a luxury. If there is no red card problem, they will go first. The Spanish ‘dream team’ has always been in the leading group since Álvaro started the race in the first men’s post. In a good temperature, 17 degrees, less hot than the day of the individual test, in 3’50” kilometers, a group of a dozen walkers was ahead of all the favorites: Spain, China, Ecuador, Brazil, Mexico, Italy… Together they reached the first relay area, where María Pérez established herself without problems among the best, although she suffered in the last kilometer of her first relay against the speed of the world champion Kimberly García, and dropped a few meters already, at the beginning of the third relay, Álvaro did not take long to recover.

At the third pole, the halfway point of the race, Spain arrived in an unbeatable position, without any red card, and the movie got even better when the Ecuadorian Brian Pintado and Álvaro Martín gave the final push to km 22, quickly overtook China, Mexico and Australia. The pair ran into trouble and were left without a challenger for gold and silver when Chinese Zhang Jun saw China’s third red card, prompting a three-minute penalty.

The race situation became clear: Pintado and Martín in front, at brutal speeds (3’48” per thousand meters), with Italy third by half a minute and Australia and Peru a little behind. 4 more kilometers from the end of his relay, the Ecuadorian saw his first red, and Spain was still ‘clean’. And before the end of his turn, the Ecuadorian saw a second red card that put everything in the couple’s favour Espanyol. Pintado could not take any chances and was less worried that he got a few meters advantage against the Spaniard. The effect of the two cards was devastating for Pintado. Because of the fear of the three-minute penalty, the Ecuadorian got rid of the himself to reach his height, surpass him and give the last symbolic witness to María Pérez in the first place.

It’s up to the Andalusian to finish the job. Theoretically superior to the Ecuadorian Glenda Morejón, and the latter monitored by the judges, María remained in the lead and gradually increased her advantage over the Ecuadorian, who preferred not to risk and bet on silver due to the possibility of three minutes. penalty if he finds another card. At seven kilometers, the advantage is already 10 seconds, and more than a minute in Italy, firmly in third place. And the Spanish couple, meanwhile, was about to end without a single warning from the judges.

María had everything under control and her advantage in Morejón was increasing, a comfortable 25 seconds with six kilometers to go. Australia edged out Italy in the battle for bronze and the other Spanish couple, Miguel Angel López and Cristina Montesinos, were clawing back positions to reach ninth. Two kilometers from the end, María was able to rest, no one could steal the gold from the Spanish duo. He smiled brightly as he passed the aid station and the hugs began in the Spanish box, where Álvaro tirelessly encouraged his partner. So to the finish line, to total party on a historic day for the Spanish march. María did a CR7-style jump in front of the finish line, while Alvaro was waiting for her with a bottle of champagne that ended up spraying everyone. The ecstasy they worked for for four years.

[+] Watch the best moments of the race: