Adel Mechaal, double champion of Spain in 1,500 and 3,000 in the last national championship held in Ourense, declared that the growth that national athletics has had in recent years has been “spectacular and it is no longer just middle-distance, long-distance or walking, but which is a whole in both the male and female categories”.
Adel Mechaal, who three weeks ago scored a new double -the third- in the Spanish indoor championships and This year he broke the European record of 3,000 with 7:30.82is the captain of the Spanish team that travels to the Indoor World Championship in Belgrade (Serbia).
“I arrive in excellent form but history repeats itself. In 2018 I was double champion of Spain and then the Ethiopians beat me, along with a Kenyan, at the World Cup in Birmingham. Now the three best athletes are Ethiopian (Lamecha Girma, Selemon Barega and Berihu Aregawi) and the intention is to beat them but it won’t be easy,” Mechaal, who will run the 3,000 at the World Cup, told EFE.
“The confidence in my top speed is good, in the sense that the last practices have been the best of the season. They are close to what I did before Tokyo, but it will also be necessary to see how the athletes arrive, especially Girma and Barega. It will be necessary to run a lot but it is a challenge that excites me”, he confessed.
For Mechaal “the ideal race would be at a medium pace, not like in Birmingham, which was the slowest in the history of all competitions.”
“That meant that until the last kilometer there were many people in the race and there were elbows. Now Ethiopia will try to win the three medals with a fast race, but just the selfishness of one or the other can cause surprises. With Antonio Serrano (coach ) I have considered all the options. I would be interested in a race of 7:45, that arrives clean until the end, “he said.
Mechaal, the veteran of the Spanish delegation, highlighted the growth that national athletics has had in recent years since his first Indoor World Cup in Sopot (Poland) in 2014.
“Everything has changed a lot. Isabel Macías went to Sopot, for example, and no other woman. Before, women’s athletics was almost dead and representation was a minority. It was a much smaller number than men,” he said.
“Now that everyone is trying to find an idol or a role model, it is good that more women come out. Spanish athletics is not just distance, middle distance or walking. Before it was strange to see a sprinter rubbing shoulders with the best or people who jump fences, do triple jump or other discipline. This is a source of pride,” she noted.
“The federation has worked very well in all areas so that new generations come out. Athletics is now everything, a variety, many sports within one”, he commented.
Finally, Mechaal spoke about his future plans in the medium term after the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“I will arrive in Paris when I am 33 years old and from then on I want to try the marathon, although I love the track and I enjoy it a lot. I am passionate about traveling with the team and I hope to continue doing so as long as the youngsters leave me. The future is on the road because marathons have an incredible audience and I want to try my luck. Then I’ll stay or if I still look good, I’ll postpone that jump a little more, “she concluded.