Marc Tur, fourth at the Tokyo Olympic Games, will face the European Championships in Munich (Germany) making anger a motivation which rendered him unable to compete for medals at the last World Championships, in Eugene (United States), where he was disqualified without completing the 35-kilometer walking test.
In recent times, the Balearic walker (Santa Eulalia del Río, Ibiza, 1994) has been recognized both for his sporting facet and for the values sent outside of sport.
In April he was awarded the Best Athlete of 2021 award by the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation and in June the Higher Sports Council awarded him the Royal Order of Sports Merit for his “commitment to equality” within the framework of the ‘Equals in Sports’ strategy.
Q: How did this European cope?
A: I am motivated, eager, improve everything that failed in the World Cup, especially in the technical side, and try to take advantage of the last few weeks to be ready and give what cannot come out in Eugene.
Q: What happened?
A: For motivation, desire or good practice no. The walk has a handicap or the bad part that if you don’t follow the bend, which was my problem, or loss of contact, you can be disqualified. I didn’t have the option to go through the ‘pit lane’ but the judges decided at kilometer 25 that I would go out. It’s been five years since they disqualified me and it’s obvious that I still need to improve because I can’t continue like this. I thought I was doing well but the judges thought I was doing wrong. So in the review I saw that I had a lot of things to improve on the technique and that’s where I’m at.
Q: From the World Cups to the Europeans, how have these weeks been?
A: The first days I spent in a rest home and then we went to León, to the High Performance Center. I have been with the whole team. We loaded up and trained hard because we had to do a new set-up. It is very rare and expensive. They are not easy exercises but we have many bases. We knew it would be like this but I think it’s okay.
Q: How do you see this race with so many Europeans aiming for a medal?
A: We were all surprised at how high the pace was over 35 kilometers. They run at 20 paces, less than four minutes. In European is not much level but there are great rivals. I believe that a fast race will appear again at rates closer to 20 than the old 50 kilometers. Depending on the day and the circuit, it will be like the World Cup.
Q: Is fast racing in your favor?
A: No. It’s not really in my favor because I’m a long distance away and I’m not fast. This is an important change. It’s like comparing a 100-meter dash to an 800-meter dash. I’ve been training for it this year, I’m adapting, I’ve improved my speed but I think they’re demanding speeds. This year is one of adaptation, maybe I should have seen the season in a different way. I didn’t expect the World Championship and now in the European Championship, whether it’s a fast or a slow race, I hope to be at the forefront of the fight for medals.
Q: Does the fact that the World Cups didn’t go well put you under pressure for these Europeans?
A: I don’t want to put pressure on myself because pressure doesn’t help. I want to do well, I’m trying to channel and transform the anger I have into the motivation to do well in the European Championship. I’ve been training all year, I know I’m fine, I can change my technique, which didn’t allow me to show myself in the World Cup, and I hope it will be the same in the European Championship.
Q: A curiosity. Before competing, how do you motivate yourself, what do you do?
A: We walkers are lucky because generally from the time we get up until we compete we don’t have a lot of time. I tend to be calm, as relaxed as possible, and by myself. I analyze the strategy and what I have in mind for the race. I usually put on music. Two or three hours but it’s time to focus on my world.
Source: La Verdad
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
