Katir returns the glory to the 1500

The athlete from Mula gives Spain its second bronze in the Eugene World Cup; Mario Garcia was fourth

From glory to hell there is a hundredth. At least in the case of Mohamed Katir. Three days ago, the Muleño was about to be knocked out in the first round. Without sensations, he finished sixth and was the last to qualify for the semi-finals. Now Katir is world bronze and has returned the pride of the 1500 to Spain, the fetish test that has already won three silver and three bronze in the world event. Katir came in third in yet another spectacular final, much in the vein of the one launched at the Tokyo Games a year ago, by a non-guest guest Jakob Ingrebigtsen, Britain’s Wightman, who gave the English school the honor of the 1980s, when Steve Cram became champion in 1983 and Coe and Owett made an unforgettable team.

The final left a lot to be said for, but the best thing for Spanish athletics is that the 1,500 has returned. It had been 23 years since a medal arrived, since Reyes Estévez’s bronze in Seville ’99. Too long for a distance in which José Manuel Abascal won bronze in Los Angeles ’84, when José Luis González won silver at the ’87 World Cup in Rome, where Fermín Cacho hung the Olympic gold in Barcelona 92 ​​​​and was twice second at the World Cup and also Estevez third in 1997. Katir has joined this group of illustrious midfielders, and the same can be said of a Mario García Romo, who came fourth and at the age of 23 has confirmed that he has the whole future ahead of him.

Katir, Spanish record holder of 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000 since last year, explained at the end of the test: “From the start I felt that it was going really well and I tried to save as much power as possible. With 500 meters to go, little by little I got into position without exhausting myself until I reached the last 200 with a lot of power and was able to keep the pace there and come with the best in the world».

A tactic that allowed him to defeat bottomless rivals like Cheruiyot, scorched again by Ingebritgsen’s devastating pace. But it was Wightman in 3:29.23 who took the gold. Ingebrigtsen came close (3:29.47) and Katir also dropped below 30 (3:29.90) for bronze. Romo, with a great finish, took fourth place which allowed him to lower his score by five seconds (he did 3:30:20). While one of the many notable things about this final was the Old Continent’s dominance among the top four finishers, this hadn’t happened since the early 1980s.

Katir wants more at 24: “I don’t know the truth, I haven’t found my limit. Every season I surprise myself more and I hope to improve.” The Muleño smiled at Eugene and has already forgotten the resentment of a month ago when, winning the Spanish Championship, the first, he lamented the time and opportunities that were lost until he was nationalized in October 2019 and when the pandemic had him wait until a 2021 where he showed all his quality.

In an interview prior to the Games, Katir explained that “My father is from Morocco and my mother is from Egypt. Since I came here very young, I don’t remember anything. The best memories I have are of Mula, my city in Murcia». Little Mohamed tried football first, “but I found out they had races at the school and I was first in one.” That led him to enroll in athletics and he showed that he could do great things, but something was missing. “It was very difficult when you won a championship, a cross, and you saw whoever finished second took the medal from you. It felt very bad, even though I knew that one day I would be a national; it was a matter of patience. But if it happens to someone who doesn’t have a cool head and a healthy mind… then I think he would have left the sport.

Gabi Lorente is the coach who polished Katir, the same who led Mariano García to become world champion on the indoor track. “He’s my coach. Well, actually it’s much more; it’s like he’s my older brother,” admits the middle distance runner, who is already thinking about the near future, the European Championship in Munich. “On Sunday I’m going to Sierra Nevada and the preparation for that championship begins, from which I want to bring another medal yes or yes”.

There will be Mario García Romo, a native of Villar de Gallimazo, a town of 200 in rural Salamanca, a chemistry student at the University of Mississippi and a silver medalist at the United States University Championships, who died at the age of 23. already in the top 3 of the Spanish brands of the 1,500.

Jake Wightman (Nottinham, age 28) shone in one of the biggest surprises of the World Cup by becoming world champion in the 1,500 meters and becoming the first Briton to win gold since Steve Cram in 1983. Cram himself praised the “courage” of the Brit and he was happy to be relieved, after that glorious time for the British 1,500 in which Coe was two-time Olympic champion in 1980 and 84 and Steve Ovett in Moscow 80, among many other successes.

But the most notable of his triumph was in the stands. When the British team celebrated the title in Eugene, Hayward Field’s giant screen was focused on the stadium announcer. “I have to tell them why the camera is on me,” says Geoff Wightman, a former marathon runner and the voice of stadium athletics for decades. “This is my son. I train him. And he is the world champion,” he said excitedly.

Source: La Verdad

David

I’m an experienced news author and editor based in New York City. I specialize in covering healthcare news stories for Today Times Live, helping to keep readers informed on the latest developments related to the industry. I have a deep understanding of medical topics, including emerging treatments and drugs, the changing laws that regulate healthcare providers, and other matters that affect public health.