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Bronze 2:30:34 PB |
It was a hard and difficult race. I have dreamt about a medal for so long and now this dream has come true. I started piano-piano, calmly. I stayed in the fourth position behind Bermudez from Spain. So at the end, I still had the power left. After the 20K, I was waiting to catch him. I saw he had some difficulties and I overtook him at 25/28K. Race walk is about being patient. A little bit like being a hunter. You have to wait for the right moment. At the beginning, the temperature was ideal. It got hot only at the last kilometres. Compared to the 50K, I like the 35K competition more because the faster pace is better for me. |
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Gold 2:26:49 |
Obviously, this was a really good race, even if very challenging at times. Leading from the front, mostly on my own, makes it hard to keep the pace. It was hard, but I managed in the end. We started off with a very slow pace which I wasn't really keen on, so I increased the pace - I felt good so I went even faster after that. It was a bit of a risk but it paid off in the end because I felt strong and managed to maintain the pace throughout. The transition to this distance was pretty easy because I come from the 20K - I was still doing the 20K last year - so it was not that hard for me to change. This new distance clearly suits my ability, and we managed to achieve great results this season, end it with this European title. [About Spanish Race Walk success in the past] I'm one of those who was able to win titles in the past, I have that experience of having been an European Champion in the 20K - I have gone through all of this before. Last year, I only managed to make it to top 10 in the 20K, which is not what I was really hoping for, so, this year, the 35K was an opportunity for me to come back, and I made sure to make the best of out of it. |
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Silver 2:29:30 PB |
I needed almost 10 years to finally medal at an international championship. 13 days ago, I caught corona and somehow, this made me calm and gave me coolness and took the pressure off me. I think this gave me the strength today. Most of the course was in the shadow so it was no problem for me. But generally, I like heat and I hoped for warm weather today. My tactics was to stay in the group. With Corona ony two weeks ago and only one week of training, this was the best thing I could do. For me, I felt like gold and silver were unreachable but when I saw Karlstrom from Sweden got problems, I was sure I could medal. From 15 to 35K it was extremely fast and I did not think about catching Lopez, no chance. He is too strong. I was fighting for a place behind Lopez. I like the 35K more than the 50k. This works for me. The older you get, the longer distances you should walk, they say. But I do not like the 50K training so the new event is perfect for me. I also prefer the 2K laps. Today, I only had the impression that one direction was longer than the other one, so less laps help mentally. |