News13 Feb 2005


Spanish middle distance aces eye European Indoor medals

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Spanish middle distance runner Juan Carlos Higuero (© Getty Images)

The ‘6th Gran Premio de pista cubierta’ held yesterday afternoon (12 Feb) produced a bunch of good performances especially in the middle distance events. Coming only three weeks prior to the European Indoor Championships which will take place in Madrid (4-6 March) the Spanish athletes seem ready to match the impressive tally they got in the men’s 800-1500-3000 disciplines (5 medals) at the last Europeans in Vienna back in 2002.

Will it be 1500 or 3000m for Higuero at the Europeans?

26-year-old Juan Carlos Higuero clinched a more than convincing win over 3000m. Paced through the 1000m (2:36.20) and 2000m (5:14.67) by Kenya’s Martin Keino (son of Olympic legend Kip Keino) Higuero ran the last kilometre on his own to clock a PB of 7:48.46.

Such was his feeling of easiness throughout the race that Higuero (1500 silver medallist in Vienna to Rui Silva and holder of an outdoor PB of 3:31.61) has now a serious doubt on which event he will be contesting at the Europeans in Madrid.

“Today, I have enjoyed a lot during the race and I felt superb; I must still decide wether I compete over 1500m or 3000 in Madrid. I’ll decide that after the Spanish championships (19-20 February)” commented a delighted Higuero.

Behind Higuero, there were two more athletes clocking remarkable times in the guises of European Indoor 3000m silver medallist Antonio Jiménez (7:51.29) and César Pérez, also a steeplechase specialist, who was timed in a PB of 7:53.40.

3:38 1500m performances for Estévez and Casado

The 1500m event saw Reyes Estévez’s indoor debut this season and the reigning European outdoor silver medallist proved to be in good shape. The pacemakers went through 400m (57.69) and 800m (1:56.49) before Estévez took charge of the race closely followed by 2001 European Junior bronze medallist Arturo Casado.

Although Estévez was never able to build a clear gap over Casado he managed to romp home first in 3:38:13 while Casado finished in 3:38.71; these two times have only been bettered in Europe this year by Ukraine’s Ivan Heshko. 17-year-old Álvaro Rodríguez set a new Spanish junior record with a 3:44.73 performance.

Reina runs 1:46.71

2002 World Cup winner Antonio Reina snatch a fine win in the men’s 800m. Despite a relatively slow start (400m covered in 53.34 by the pacemaker with Reina in third) Reina managed to run a negative split in the second half and crossed the finish line unopposed in a season best of 1:46.71.

European 400m indoor leader (46.57) David Canal was the victor in his specialist event in 46.98 while in the ‘B’ race Santiago Ezquerro clocked 47.48 to secure a spot in the 4x400 relay squad competing in Madrid.

7.65 for Vivancos in the Hurdles

Former U20 and U23 European 110m hurdles medallist Felipe Vivancos, 24, lowered his 60m Hurdles PB to 7.65 (previous 7.67) while Shot Put star Manuel Martínez had to settle for a 19.85m fifth round heave, 15 centimetres short of his 20.00 season’s best.

On the women’s side Mayte Martínez won the 800m in 2:03.78 while the European U23 bronze medallist Esther Desviat came runner-up in 2:04.47. Despite her poor reaction time from the blocks (0.281s) Glory Alozie cut two hundredths her season best in the 60m hurdles to win in 8.08 ahead of Aliuska López (8.16).

Pole Vaulter Naroa Agirre, who took the sixth place at the Athens Olympics was defeated by Mar Sánchez (4.35 to 4.30) while Dana Cervantes was third with a 4.20 clearance.

Emeterio Valiente for the IAAF

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