Marta Pérez: "It is difficult not to let yourself be carried away by the goals you expect of yourself"

MADRID, 1 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Spanish athlete Marta Pérez points out that the goal for the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul (Turkey) that begins this Thursday is to "be in the final" of the 3,000 meters and finish "among the top six-eight", and although she knows that "it is difficult not to get carried away by the objectives" to which an athlete aspires, it is clear that she wants to reach the "elite level" to compete among the best.

"I've trained very well these weeks and I'm in shape. I've competed very little and I'm already looking forward to it. Mentally I'm very well, and it doesn't make me too nervous -the competition-, I really like competing and I think I manage it quite well. A "Sometimes it is my coach who has to stop me and tells me not to compete to match the planning. What creates uncertainty for me is that I have two 3,000 if I go to the final and I have never done it," Pérez commented in an interview with Europe Press before leaving for the appointment.

The athlete from Soria will debut in the European Indoors this Thursday with the first round of the 3,000 meters, having the final of this distance only 24 hours later. "There will be enough equality, it will be open. My goal is to be in the final and be among the first six-eight," she indicated as a goal.

"The pressure must exist in its proper measure, it is better to be calm to compete, but it is difficult not to let yourself be carried away by the objectives that you expect of yourself, based on what you have trained. Putting what you have trained on the track is pressure that I will always have, but I'm not overwhelmed, I manage it at its halfway point. It's true that then I take the results very to heart," said Pérez.

The Spanish completed her best year as a professional in 2021, very close to the metals in the big events in which she participated. In the previous European 'indoor' in Torun (Poland), her second participation in this type of competition, she signed a creditable fourth place in 1,500 meters. Some good feelings that were confirmed in the Tokyo Games, when she finished ninth in the same distance. In addition, in September of that year she also finished fourth in the Diamond League final in Zurich (Switzerland), rubbing shoulders with the best.

"I've never been good enough to be that close to medals, I don't have that pressure. When I finished fourth in the Diamond, I thought that the following year I could be closer to medals, but then nothing came of it. I've learned that You can't be training thinking about it to improve, I can't constantly compare myself with brands. I want to be at the elite level, to be at the top and go to the finals", acknowledged the long-distance runner.

"I have gone to all the championships since 2017, the goal is to be in the finals and fight for them. I hope that one day I can do it, with more training and the maturity that these tournaments give me. My progression towards the high level was very calm, while I was studying. I was always improving my times, so even if I didn't make it to the final, I wasn't frustrated. Now I have more pressure, but I'm another athlete and I'm at a level where I should be able to go through", she reiterated about her options in Istanbul .

However, he confessed that this European is not part of the "path" to the World Cup in Budapest in summer, that it is "a higher priority" because it is outdoors. "It is always a higher priority, but we believe that it is possible to make two 'peaks' in the season. I always set the international championships with the national team as my goal," he explained.

Finally, he addressed the exponential growth of Spanish athletics in recent years, with 2022 in which 43 absolute national records were broken. "Now there are very young people making great records and that moves the viewer, as well as veteran people who also move people because they have been around for a long time. There have always been icons, but now they appear in the so-called Katir, Adel (Mechaal) and Mario ( García Romo) and yes, we can be more 'scary'", he concluded.