The Spanish Álvaro Martín, 20 km world champion marches in Budapest

First medal of the Spanish delegation in the Budapest event

MADRID, 19 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Spanish athlete Álvaro Martín was proclaimed this Saturday champion in the 20 kilometer walk of the World Athletics Championship in the absolute category, which is being held in Budapest (Hungary), thanks to a test that had to be delayed two hours due to a strong storm.

As highlighted by the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA) in a press release, Martín has achieved the "greatest success" of his career as a professional in a career that "in some way has also been a talisman." The walker from Extremadura, a two-time European champion, managed the setbacks well and showed his audacity, leaving cautiously and staying in a group that followed the Japanese Koki Ikeda, who started brilliantly as soon as he fired the starting shot.

Almost unchanged for more than 14 kilometers, although with the Japanese losing his wide advantage, Martín then decided to make a strong change of pace to leave the company of his rivals and catch up with Ikeda just at km 15 (58:17); the man from Extremadura surpassed him and took more and more advantage, in search of the long-awaited gold medal.

José Antonio Carrillo's pupil had arrived in "the best possible shape" for this championship, according to his own words, and he captured it by keeping his distance in the final part. He marched with rhythm, energy and, above all, looking ahead with confidence towards a World Cup glory that he seized in the Heroes' Square of the Hungarian capital.

Martín thus became the eighth world champion in the history of Spain; and he did it with a finish time of 1:17.32, just 10 seconds from the national record and 11 from the championship record, a timer that even placed him as the world leader of the year.

"Martín's is the third Spanish gold in 20 km walk in the history of the World Cups after those of Valentí Massana (1993) and Miguel Ángel López (2015). In total, the Spanish walk adds 18 medals in World Championships, 16 of them in the male category", recalled the RFEA in its note.

Apart from the brilliant gold from Extremadura, the Spanish performance was completed with Alberto Amezcua from Granada in 13th position, setting a personal best of 1:19:28 (seventh national record of all time), and with Diego García Carrera from Madrid finishing in 39th place, without having a good day according to his time of 1:25:12.

On the other hand, in the men's qualifiers for the 3,000 meter hurdles, Daniel Arce was fifth in the first series. It was just the limit square that gave way to the final, taking into account the new World Athletics regulations, only the classification by positions having remained. With a time of 8:20.46, Arce will play his third consecutive World Cup final.

In the third and last series, Víctor Ruiz, also a Spaniard, fought to the last meter of his career, but was far from a first group made up of four athletes; In the final lap, he fought not to be dropped from the group that was playing for fifth place, with an attempt to come back that earned him to finish sixth (8: 20.54).