Running News Daily

Garcia on Spanish team to defend world indoor title in Glasgow

Mariano Garcia forms part of the Spanish team for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24 and will defend his 800m title at the event that takes place from March 1-3.

The 26-year-old claimed his first global title in Belgrade two years ago and went on to win European 800m gold that year in Munich.

In Glasgow, Garcia will be joined in the men’s 800m by teammate Mohamed Attaoui.

Maria Vicente heads to Glasgow in the form of her life, having scored a world-leading national record of 4728 points in the pentathlon in Aubiere in January.

National mile record-holder Marta Perez and national champion Esther Guerrero are both entered for the women’s 1500m.

After winning three medals at the European Indoor Championships between 2017 and 2023 and finishing fifth at the 2018 World Indoor Championships in the 3000m, Adel Mechaal will contest the 1500m in Glasgow. He will be joined in that event by two-time world finalist Mario Garcia.

Asier Martinez will look to build on his fourth-place finish in Belgrade in the 60m hurdles.

The full team will be confirmed once world rankings places have been finalised.

Spanish team for Glasgow

Women

60m: Jael Bestue

1500m: Esther Guerrero, Marta Perez

60m hurdles: Xenia Benach

Pentathlon: Maria Vicente

Men

800m: Mohamed Attaoui, Mariano Garcia

1500m: Mario Garcia, Adel Mechaal

60m hurdles: Enrique Llopis, Asier Martinez

Bryce Hoppel and Noah Kibet head Millrose Games 800m

Bryce Hoppel and Noah Kibet will renew their rivalry at the Millrose Games, the fourth Gold level meeting in this season’s World Athletics Indoor Tour, in New York on February 11.

Hoppel is back to defend his Millrose Games 800m title, now as a world indoor bronze medallist. The 25-year-old, who won US titles indoors and outdoors in 2022, claimed the first global medal of his career in Belgrade, where he clocked 1:46.51 to finish third in a race won by Spain’s Mariano Garcia.

Second in that Belgrade final was Kibet, who at the age of 17 became the youngest ever track medallist in World Indoor Championships history. Now aged 18, the Kenyan seeks further indoor success in New York. Kibet ran 1:46.35 to win his world indoor medal and also claimed bronze at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi in 2021.

Looking to challenge them both will be Clayton Murphy, the 2016 Olympic bronze medallist and fourth-fastest US athlete in the history of the event. Murphy made a second Olympic final in Tokyo and is also a six-time national champion.

Lining up alongside them will be Isaiah Harris, who finished runner-up behind Hoppel at last year’s US Indoor Championships, and Kyle Langford, Britain’s 2018 Commonwealth silver medallist.

Also in the field are Mexican record-holder Jesus Tonatiu Lopez, Irish record-holder Mark English and USA’s Cade Flatt.

Already announced for the meeting are showdowns in the pole vault between Katie Moon, Sandi Morris and Katerina Stefanidi, and in the shot put between Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs. The women's 300m will feature Abby Steiner, Jenna Prandini and Brittany Brown, while the women’s 3000m will star Konstanze Klosterhalfen and Alicia Monson. Two-time world 200m champion Noah Lyles will race for more sprint success in the 60m and Laura Muir will race the Rudin Women’s Wanamaker Mile.

Spain’s Mariano Garcia Runs Smart Race To Win Thrilling European 800m Title

On the final evening of the 25th European Athletics Championships at Olympic Stadium here, Spain’s Mariano Garcia and Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa captured the final two distance medals on offer.  Garcia, who won the world indoor title at 800m last March, added the European outdoor title here tonight in a personal best 1:44.85.  Crippa, who won the bronze medal in the 5000m five days ago, won the 10,000m in 27:46.13.  He became the first Italian man to win the European 10,000m title in 32 years.

Although he came into the race as the current world indoor champion, Garcia wasn’t the favorite for gold.  He had never broken 1:45 –either indoors or out– and he was faced with the daunting challenge of beating reigning world 1500m champion, Jake Wightman of Great Britain.  Wightman, who stepped down in distance for these championships after running the 1500m at both the World Athletics Championships and Commonwealth Games, said before these championships began that he was particularly motivated to compete well here.

“Coming here to do the 800 is just something I’m actually excited to do,” Wightman said.  He continued: “I want to show I can be as competitive over eight as fifteen.”

And indeed, he was.  Running an intelligent race, Wightman let Garcia lead at 400 meters (52.07).  The Scotsman sat in the main group with Ireland’s Mark English and his British teammate Ben Pattison and continued to stay slightly behind Garcia through 600 meters (1:18.59).  Wightman was where he wanted to be.

“I was just ready to race and did not care too much about the splits,” Wightman told the European Athletics mixed zone team.  “It was more about the position in the race to get medals.”

Coming around the final bend Garcia had the slightest of leads, but he was running on the rail and had the shortest line to the finish.  English was also well-positioned behind Garcia, while Wightman was out in lane two and also had Belgium’s Eliott Crestan to pass who was between him and Garcia.  The Spaniard’s strategy of leading in the second half was about to pay off.

“When I decided to take the lead, I knew I had to give it my all,” Garcia said.  “Because towards the end of the race, that’s when you have less energy, so I need to get this right.”

In the final 100 meters Wightman was able to make it close.  He got ahead of English and was closing down Garcia but just couldn’t catch him before the line.  Only 6/100ths of a second separated them, and Wightman got silver in 1:44.91.

“I was very close to the gold, and I would be very glad to get that, but still I am pretty happy with the silver,” Wightman said.  “I was not quite close enough in the last straight and it is tough when you are not that close with a strong opponents.”

English, who won the bronze medal at his first European Championships in 2014, got the bronze in 1:45.19.

“I am really pleased to get the bronze medal,” English said.  “I can’t really ask for more.”

Sweden’s Andreas Kramer nearly caught English and finished fourth in 1:45.38.  He was in last place with 110 meters to go in the race.

Crippa’s victory was achieved by a fast start, a slow middle and a fast finish.  France’s Jimmy Gressier decided to attack the field right from the gun, running an improbably-fast first lap of 61.6 seconds.  The Frenchman said that he felt most comfortable going hard from the gun.

“I go fast because it’s my best strategy,” Gressier told Race Results Weekly in English.  “I like (to) run fast.  It is the same as cross country; I like to push the run.”

The field immediately strung out.  Gressier had Britain’s Marc Scott and Turkey’s Aras Kaya right on his heels through 3000m (8:09.9), and the leaders were on pace to run 27:13.  Scott expected Gressier to push early and was ready for that.

“I thought he’d do something like that just knowing the type of character he is,” Scott told Race Results Weekly.  “But it’s nothing most of the field can’t handle because we all knew it was going to come back.”

Indeed, when Scott took over the lead at 3600 meters, lap times fell to the 70-second range and the field bunched up again.  France’s Yoann Kowal tried a solo breakaway but by 4800 meters he was absorbed.  Kaya was the nominal leader at 5000m (13:54.2) with Crippa and Scott right behind.  Crippa, who won the bronze medal at the 2018 edition of these championships, was feeling confident.

“Compared to fours years ago, in Berlin 2018, I feel I have changed a lot – especially my mindset,” he said.  “I am much stronger mentally than I was in the past.”

He used that mental strength to hold back in the second half of the race.  He led for five laps through 8400 meters averaging a not-too-fast 67 seconds per lap.  He didn’t immediately react when Norway’s Zerei Kbrom Mezngi took the lead at 8800 meters and built up a small lead over Crippa, Gressier, Britain’s Emile Cairess, and France’s Yann Schrub.  Instead, he waited for the final 200 meters to try and catch the tall Norwegian.  The crowd roared as Crippa began to close from at last 50 meters back.

“I believed in myself, and I knew I could do what I did tonight,” Crippa said.

With about 80 meters to go, Crippa passed Mezngi to seal the victory.  Mezngi held his speed and got the silver in 27:46.94, a personal best, while Schrub managed to pull away from Gressier and get the bronze in 27:47.13, also a personal best.

“I kept some energy and was able to use it on the last meters,” said Schrub, who is a medical student.  “I would have never thought that I could win a medal today.”

Laura Muir Storms To European 1500m Title

With a savage move about 25 meters before taking the bell, Britain’s Laura Muir overwhelmed the field here at Olympic Stadium tonight and successfully defended her European Athletics 1500m title.  Muir, a Scotswoman, ran the final lap in 60.4 seconds and won in 4:01.08.  Her victory tonight came just 12 days after she won the Commonwealth Games title at the same distance.

“Physically I’m not too bad, but mentally, oh my God that was hard,” Muir told reporters.  “I’m used to feeling tired, I’m used to training and racing, but that was something else.”

When Muir, 29, consulted with her coach Andy Young before the race they both agreed that her ability to jump the field late in the race was her best weapon.  So, she immediately dropped to the back of the twelve-woman field after the gun to save energy, then waited for two laps to go before moving to the front.  Ireland’s Ciara Mageean shadowed her closely, and Poland’s Sofia Ennaoui tried to stay close.  Muir was only just beginning her wind-up.

“Speaking with Andy, we knew I could run the last lap faster than anybody else,” Muir explained.  “So, if I was tired the best –the safest– way to run it was to do that.”

But Mageean would not give up so easily.  She had planned for this exact kind of race.

“It’s funny visualizing different types of races, and in my 20 minute warm-up that’s exactly what I visualized,” Mageean told Race Results Weekly.  “Laura’s probably going to go, and in my mind she’s going to go a little sooner than at Commonwealth Games; she’s going to go earlier, which she did.  I said to myself, you be her shadow.”

Coming down the homestretch the penultimate time, Muir switched on the afterburners even before getting to the bell.  Mageean reacted immediately and stayed close, but Ennaoui was too far back to catch up (she would have to settle for bronze in 4:03.59).  Mageean was still close as she and Muir rounded the final bend, but Muir was just too fast.

“I thought going up the home straight that maybe I was going to have her, but she’s just got a little bit more strength than me,” said Mageean, who ran a season’s best 4:02.56.  “Laura’s a 3:55 runner and I’m just not there yet.”

With her gold medal tonight, Muir won medals at all three of this summer’s major championships.  At the World Athletics Championships in Eugene she took bronze in the 1500m, and at the Commonwealth Games she won the 1500m and took bronze in the 800m.

“I really wanted to win; to get a medal at Worlds as well I’m so pleased,” Muir said.

There was more success for the British team today in the semi-finals of the 800m.

During the morning session all the medal favorites advanced to the final of the women’s 800m, including all three British women who ran today.  In the first of two heats, Olympic and World Championships silver medalist Keely Hodgkinson got the win in 2:00.67 and confirmed her status as the gold medal favorite.  She finished comfortably ahead of Poland’s Anna Wielgosz (2:01.05) and Ireland’s Louise Shanahan (2:01.15).

“I’m just really happy to have got through,” Hodgkinson told the British Athletics media team.  “I’m tired, but I’m taking it race by race. I could have taken it on, but the Polish girl set the pace which certainly helped me, so I’m just pleased to have got the job done.”

Frenchwoman Renelle Lamote narrowly won the second heat over Hodgkinson’s British teammate Jemma Reekie, 2:00.23 to 2:00.30.  A third British woman, Alex Bell, got third in 2:00.53 putting three British women into the final.

“It’s great to see all three of us through,” said Bell who finished sixth in the Commonwealth Games 800m.  “I think even though I have been racing for so long, it’s only been this season that races are stressing me less when it gets bargy and clumpy and trippy. In the past I have panicked at that point, so I am just conserving more energy, because the more composed you are the more energy you save.”

Much to the delight of the German fans here, Christina Hering advanced on time by finishing fourth in the second heat in 2:00.86.

“WOW,” Hering wrote on her Instagram just after the race.  “Home crowd gave me wings.”

In the men’s 800 semi-finals tonight, reigning world 1500m champion Jake Wightman advanced to the final by going from fifth place to second place in the homestretch of heat two, stopping the clock in 1:46.61.  The Scotsman finished behind Spain’s Mariano Garcia (1:46.52) and just ahead of Ireland’s Mark English whom Wightman passed in the final 20 meters.

Although he made the final, Wightman wasn’t happy with his performance.

“I didn’t run good there,” he told the British Athletics media team. “I think the one thing I am taking from it is I must be pretty fit because tactically I was all over the place, but I was still able to get through. I hope I don’t get lane one in the final as I didn’t run too well from there.”

The first heat went slow, and Poland’s Patryk Dobek (the 2021 Olympic bronze medalist) only managed to finish fourth in the final sprint and did not make the final.  Instead, Sweden’s Andreas Kramer (1:48.37), Italy’s Simone Barontini (1:48.51) and France’s Benjamin Robert (same time as Barontini). Moved on to the final.  Kramer performed a deft move in the final 50 meter, slicing through the center of the field to get the win.

“I just waited for it, because I didn’t want to disturb anyone,” Kramer told Race Results Weekly.  “Just kicked and waited for the small opening.  Then when it came, I just went for it.”

In tonight’s other medal event within the distance disciplines, Finland’s Topi Raitanen fended off a triple attack from the Italian twins Osama and Ala Zoghlami and their teammate Ahmed Abdelwahed.  Raitanen, 26, helped set the early pace then allowed the Italians to lead the final laps before making his bid for victory.

“My strategy was to keep a decent pace, and everybody’s happy and nobody wants to push harder, so I saved some energy for the last laps,” Raitanen told Race Results Weekly.  “Italy guys, really strong guys, started to push the pace and I just knew that I needed to follow them and keep up, and just wait the last lap so everything is possible.”

Coming down the backstretch on the final lap, Raitanen moved to the lead then carefully took the final water jump.  He began to sense that victory would be his.

“After the last water jump I saw a small gap behind me and I really can take the medal,” he said.  “I was just taking it really, really carefully and not fall down.  A couple of meters and I was watching the screen and I still had a small gap behind me and I know I can win.”

Ingebrigtsen to launch another 1500/5000m double attempt in Munich 2022

Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen will be heavily involved in the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships, part of the wider multisport European Championships, as he defends the 1500m and 5000m titles he won as a 17-year-old at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships. 

The Olympic 1500m champion and world 5000m champion will not, however, face the either of his brothers Filip and Henrik who are both injured nor the Brit who unexpectedly beat him to the world 1500m title in Eugene last month, Jake Wightman. 

The latter is concentrating on the 800m in Munich – the event he originally planned to do at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games until he was nudged back to the longer distance because of the number of friends and family who had bought tickets for the final last Saturday when he won bronze in a high quality final in 3:30.53. 

With a personal best of 1:44.18 from 2020, Wightman has a realistic chance of adding another European medal to the bronze he won over 1500m in Berlin four years ago – and his victory over 1000m at the Monaco Diamond League meeting on Wednesday night in 2:13.88, ninth fastest of all-time, will have done his confidence no harm at all. 

France’s Benjamin Robert has the fastest 2022 time of all entrants – the 1:43.75 he clocked in winning at the Paris Diamond League on 18 June in boisterous fashion, squeezing in between the two leaders with enough physicality to be disqualified before being reinstated on appeal. If things get physical in Munich, Robert is unlikely to come off second best. 

Tony van Diepen is also well acquainted with the hurly-burly of the track having been a part of the Dutch teams that won 4x400m silver at the Tokyo 2020 Games and mixed 4x400m silver at the World Championships in Oregon. 

Individually, van Diepen has won European indoor silver in 2021 and bronze in 2019 over 400m and has a best 800m time of 1:44.14 set this year in Paris after M. Robert had burst past him at the Stade Charlety. 

Robert’s compatriot Gabriel Tual, seventh in last year’s Olympic final, is third fastest on this year’s European list with 1:44.23, set in – you’ve guessed it – Paris. But the French team will be without the popular Pierre-Ambroise Bosse, the 2017 world champion, due to injury.

Poland’s Patryk Dobek has run 1:44.59 this year and even though he exited in the heats at the World Athletics Championships, he can also draw upon the experience of winning bronze at last year’s Olympics in Tokyo. 

Other medal prospects include Sweden’s Andreas Kramer (1:44.59), Ireland’s Mark English (1:44.76), fellow Brits Ben Pattison (1:44.60) and Kyle Langford (1:44.61), Spain's reigning world indoor champion Mariano Garcia (1:45.12) and the very experienced former two-time world medallist Amel Tuka from Bosnia and Herzegovina (1:46.15) whose lifetime best of 1:42.57 dates back to 2015.

Aside from Bosse, another notable absentee will be the three-time reigning champion Adam Kszczot from Poland who retired at the start of the year.

Ingebrigtsen's path to double gold is clearer although not without challenges

With Wightman elsewhere, Ingebrigtsen will surely feel happier about the prospect of his 1500m defence, but he will still face a field full of Spanish and British medal threats. 

Second on this year’s European list with 3:30.20, Spain’s Mario Garcia will be looking to give the Norwegian wonderboy another run for his money after finishing fourth - two places behind Ingebrigtsen - in Oregon. 

The Brits dominate the 2022 European list with six athletes in the top nine and despite the absence of Wightman and Olympic bronze medallist Josh Kerr, Jake Heyward (3:31.08), Neil Gourley (3:32.93) and Matt Stonier (3:32.50) form a trio with clear medal-winning ability.

But Ingebrigtsen, who ran 3:29.47 to take world silver, and ran an Olympic and European record of 3:28.32 at the Tokyo 2020 Games, should have enough to cover any challenge in both events. 

In the 5000m, it might be the athlete who appears second from last on the entry-list in terms of season's bests who could provide the biggest challenge to Ingebrigtsen. That athlete is Spain’s Mohammed Katir who won a bronze medal behind Ingebrigtsen in the 1500m at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon and will be focusing solely on the longer event in Munich.

Katir, 24, has a modest season's best of 13:43.61 from the Spanish Championships but he showed what he can do over the longer distance by running a national record of 12:50.79 in Rome last summer in the same race where Ingebrigtsen broke the European record with 12:48.65.

Another strong potential challenger is the experienced Spaniard Adel Mechaal, who was fifth in the Olympic 1500m final last year and set a 5000m personal best of 13:06.02 in Oslo in June. Mechaal didn't make it through to the final of the World Athletics Championships but that wasn't too surprising as he had only just recovered from an untimely bout of coronavirus which forced him to miss the 1500m.

In both the 5000m and 10,000m, watch out for Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa, 25, who has been a star performer in numerous European competitions, winning bronze at the 2019 European Cross Country Championships and the European 10,000m Cup in the same year. 

Crippa has the fastest time among the entrants based on season’s best performances in the 10,000m with 27:16.18 ahead of another showboating, talented figure in Jimmy Gressier of France – he of the famous faceplant as he won the 2018 European U23 cross country title. This didn’t stop him from walking through the line to win the same title the following year, demonstrating just how much time he had to spare. 

There weren’t quite the same histrionics at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Dublin last December but Gressier let his running do the talking and he came away with his first senior medal in a race where Ingebrigtsen ruled triumphant once again.

Gressier will be focusing solely on the 10,000m in Munich and the Frenchman is the second fastest performer this year with 27:24.51 which he set at the European 10,000m Cup on home soil in Pacé in May when he ran away from the field for the individual title.