"I am neither happy nor satisfied. We have not been up to par. We have not reached a grade of five," the national coach, Pepe Peiró, was honest, without hot cloths, just a few minutes after the girls of the 4x400 relay were one breath away from bronze. Like Dani Arce in the 3,000 hurdles. Not so far away from Fatima Diame (sixth) in length or Alejandro Quijada himself. A Sunday of 'almosts', but also of medals. Spain finishes seventh in the medal table, with eight medals (and 29 finalist places), the same as two years ago in Rome.
By teams, better. It seems that Spain has it in its DNA, the collective work that also shines in a sport as individual as athletics. The closing of the Birmingham European Championship was a song of solidarity, of sharing. In the morning, in the streets of the center, with the bronze for women's teams in the longest distance, the marathon. In the evening, at the Alexander Stadium, with another third place, in the shortest distance this time, the 100 meters and the mixed relay.
It had dawned of bronze and joy in Victoria Square. The team's seventh medal was won by the girls in the marathon, as the sum of the three best times, those of Carolina Robles (eighth, 2:28.07), Fátima Ouhaddou (15th with 2:30.37) and Ester Navarrete (2:31.57), had a prize. Like two years ago in Rome (in a half marathon in this case). And, a while later, the boys were about to imitate them, fourth behind Israel, Great Britain and Italy.
The face of the medal was Carolina Robles. A veteran of the 3,000 hurdles, the Sevillian converted to the marathon with fleeting success: she won her debut, the Spanish championship in Barcelona in March, and in Birmingham, her second, she finished eighth in Europe. «I dreamed of this position, but I am left with honey on my lips. The medal escaped me in the last lap [she remained in the leading group practically the entire race, all behind the devastating Alisa Vainio, 2.22.26, a championship record and almost five minutes ahead of the second, the Hungarian Lili Anna Vindics-Tóth]. But seeing myself so close makes me feel very proud," she said along with her teammates, who did not forget Laura Luengo, the marathoner who could not attend at the last minute. It was a convoluted marathon, along a very tough five-kilometer circuit, with unevenness and curves: "It was very hard."
From anguish and resistance to explosiveness and technique. Perfectly in the delivery of the baton that had been dirty for Spain in the two 100 relays on Saturday, the men's and women's. The National Relay Plan directed by Toni Puig, which has been achieving so much success lately, is the envy of the rest of the countries. Revenge was yet to come.
The mixed relay erased all those previous disappointments, those of the women and the men, who had been left without an end due to losing the baton. In a wonderful display, the quartet formed by Guillem Crespí, Isabel Pérez, Andoni Calbano and Jael Betsué achieved bronze with a time of 40.42 (Spanish record), only behind Germany (40.11) and Great Britain, which broke the European record with 39.97.
Not far from the imposing Amy Hunt, the queen of the European Championship, at home and with four golds, arrived Jael Betsué, Catalan herself, finishing her degree in Medicine and already doing her internship at the Hospital every morning, the best sprinter in Spain. Calbano, a Basque from Bergara, a student of Electronic Engineering at the University of Mondragón, had left her well positioned on the straight, who in order to pay for the apartment in Donosti, where he trains with Oskar Eketer, was working as a waiter in a bar in Sagüés. Before, the veteran Isabel Pérez, Andalusian, and the first to leave another Catalan, Guillem Crespí.
It would have been a beautiful finish for the women's 4x400 relay, the Golden Bubbles. More so when Paula Sevilla, brand new finalist of the 400, left the first post in 51.6 seconds. Less brilliant were Ana Prieto and Rocío Arroyo, who left Blanca Hervás in a compromised sixth position. He climbed two places and, at times, dreamed of the bronze that could not have been (3:24.39, three seconds worse than the 3:21.25, Spanish record, achieved in the World Athletics Relays this same year). Far, yes, from the first two. The great team from the Netherlands with Klaever, Fenke Bol... Gold ahead of Great Britain. "Fourth in Europe. A result that now tastes bitter to us, but we are proud. The team has fought a lot," Hervás reflected.
The afternoon at the Alexander Stadium had left another couple of almosts. The fiasco of Yulemnis Aguilar, who did not even make the cut in the javelin: his best throw, the second, was 57.06 meters. Far from his personal brand and his rivals. A blot for the Hispanic-Cuban, a precocious promise in her native country, nationalized in April 2024 by "nature card" and sixth in those Paris Games.
