In Barcelona 2010, the last European Championships organized in Spain, the Spanish athletics team was made up of 84 athletes, which in Berlin 2018 rose to 92, the maximum number ever reached. In Rome 2024, the European event that will be held between June 7 and 12 at the Olympic Stadium (1960 Games) in the Italian capital, there will be a maximum of 89 athletes (46 men and 43 women) who will be able to compete with the Spanish team. This figure, the second highest in history, represents for the coach, José Peiró, an endorsement of the “excellence” policy on which the selection criteria are based, more demanding than ever. “All the athletes who come to Rome are competitive, each at their own level,” said Peiró, who did not want to make public the forecasts for finalists and medalists. “And the fact that there are so many reflects the very high level of Spanish athletics. “Everyone will also attend with a double motivation, that of triumphing in Rome and that of securing a place for the Paris Games, which will be held less than two months later.”
This proximity to Paris, and with some national championships, the last weekend of June, interspersed, has motivated the two double world champions in Budapest, the walkers María Pérez and Álvaro Martín, to have decided to give up the Europeans to concentrate all their energy in the Olympic event. Also absent in Rome will be the current European 800m champion, Mariano García, injured, and Mohamed Katir, silver in the last Europeans, Munich 2022, and at the Budapest 2023 World Championships, sanctioned for three location faults in anti-doping controls.
The leader of the team will be the Navarrese hurdler Asier Martínez, current European champion of the 110m hurdles, and the triple jumper Ana Peleteiro, bronze medalist at the 2018 Berlin European Championships and absent in Munich 2022, the year in which she gave birth in December to his daughter Lúa. Along with them, the debut with the national team of triple jumper Jordan Díaz and javelinist Yulenmis Aguilar, both of Cuban origin, who have already obtained international permission to compete as Spaniards, arouses maximum curiosity.
The initial list of preselected is as follows (in parentheses, the athletes who must be confirmed on Thursday, when the European ranking that classifies them is closed):
WOMEN
100m: María Isabel Pérez. 200m: Jaël-Sakura Bestué, Paula Sevilla (Esperança Cladera). 400m: (Berta Segura). 800m: Lorea Ibarzabal (Daniela García, Lorena Martín). 1,500m: Esther Guerrero, Marta Pérez. 5,000m: Marta García (Carla Gallardo, María Forero). 10,000 m: Isabel Barreiro, Alicia Berzosa, Laura Priego. Half marathon: Laura Luengo, Ester Navarrete, Fatima Azzahraa Ouhaddou, Meritxell Soler (Lidia Campo, Laura Méndez). 400m hurdles: (Daniela Fra). 3,000m obstacles: Blanca Fernández, Carolina Robles, Irene Sánchez-Escribano. Length: Fatima Diame, Tessy Ebosele (Irati Mitxelena). Triple jump: Ana Peleteiro. Weight: Belén Toimil. Javelin: Yulenmis Aguilar. 4 x 100m: Jaël-Sakura Bestué, Alba Borrero, Sonia Molina-Prados, Esther Navero, Maribel Pérez, Paula Sevilla. 4 x 400m: Carmen Avilés, Blanca Hervás, Herminia Parra, Eva Santidrián, Berta Segura. 20 km walk: Laura García-Caro, Raquel González, Cristina Montesinos.
MEN
100m: (Guillem Crespí, Abel Alejandro Jordán). 800m: Mohamed Attaoui, Adrián Ben (Álvaro de Arriba). 1,500m: Ignacio Fontes, Mario García, Adel Mechaal. 5000m: Sergio Jiménez, Adel Mechaal, Thierry Ndikumwenayo. 10,000m: Ilias Fifa, Eduardo Menacho, Thierry Ndikumwenayo, Abdessamad Oukhelfen, Jesús Ramos. Half marathon: Jorge Blanco, Ibrahim Chakir, Carlos Mayo, Yago Rojo (Jorge González, Javier Guerra). 110m hurdles: Asier Martínez, Enrique Llopis (two to be selected between Daniel Cisneros, Abel Alejandro Jordán, Orlando Ortega and Kevin Sánchez). 400m hurdles: Sergio Fernández (Jesús David Delgado). 3,000m obstacles: Daniel Arce, Fernando Carro, Alejandro Quijada. Length: (Eusebio Cáceres). Triple jump: Jordan Diaz. Disk: (Diego Casas, Yasiel Bryan Sotero). Javelin: (Manu Quijera). 4 x 100m: Bernat Canet, Juan Carlos Castillo, Guillem Crespí, Abel Alejandro Jordán, Ricardo Sánchez. 4 x 400m: Julio Arenas, Iñaki Cañal, David García, Manuel Guijarro, Óscar Husillos. 20 km walk: Alberto Amezcua, Diego García, Paul McGrath.
The preselection could be completed by Sergio López (4x100m) and Laura Bou (4x400m): one more place in their respective relay teams would be expanded if an athlete finally enters the individual event.
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