Mariano García and Álvaro de Arriba failed in their attempt to qualify for the 800 meter final
Adel Mechaal also fell in 5,000 meters, Manu Quijera in javelin and Pablo Torrijos in triple
Thursday’s day could not have turned out worse for Spanish interests in the World Cups in Eugene with the elimination of the five who were seeking their classification for the finals of their tests. Namely, Mariano García and Álvaro de Arriba in 800, Adel Mechaal in 5,000, Manu Quijera in javelin and Pablo Torrijos in triple.
The most painful thing came in the two laps of the trackwhere the Spanish couple started with options despite the enormous difficulty of the round (only two per race and two times passed), but they ended up falling in a similar way.
The universal indoor champion Mariano García he was brave and took command with a strong jerk before the corner in an action that earned him the aforementioned gold in Belgrade, but he is not so strong and he paid for it in the last meters to finish sixth with 146.70.
In the third semifinal was the former European champion and current national champion Álvaro de Arriba, who approached the race with intelligence and with the aim of asserting his grand finale in the final meters. However, he wasn’t fresh either and finished seventh with 1:46.30.
The final will feature three Kenyans (Korir, Wanyonyi and Kisasy), two Algerians (an excellent Moula and Sedjati), the Canadian of Sudanese origin Marco Arop, the Australian born in Sudanese lands Peter Bol and the Frenchman Gabriel Tual, the only European among the best eight.
This time Álvaro de Arriba could not impose his grand finale
| EFE
I had it much harder Adel Mechaal in the 5,000 meters after overcoming a coronavirus that prevented him from participating in the 1,500 meters and with a very difficult semifinal with three current Olympic champions: the Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei (10,000 meters and already gold in this distance in Eugene), the Ethiopian Selemon Barega (5,000) and the wayward and brilliant Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen (1,500, a test in which he has been silver in these World Cups).
The Catalan by adoption brought out his competitive character and he fought until his strength held him in a clear demonstration that this stoppage due to covid has been fatal to their aspirations. Mechaal stayed in the penultimate step through the finish line and finished eleventh with 13: 36.48, 30 seconds behind his personal best achieved this year (there were five positions plus the five best times).
Mechaal dropped two laps from the end
| EFE
The favorites passed without excessive trouble. We are talking about the aforementioned Ingebrigtsen, Cheptegei and Barega along with the Ugandan Chelimo, the American Fisher (fourth in 10,000) and the Ethiopian Bekele. The one who did suffer was the leader of the year, the Kenyan Nicholas Kipkorir (he passed with the last time retaken after being sixth in the first ‘semi’).
Nor did he achieve the arduous goal of becoming the first male finalist in the Spanish javelin Manu Quijera despite the fact that the classification was within his reach. In the end, his best throw of 78.61 meters was more than insufficient in a phase in which the German Hoffmann fell surprisingly with three misses in World Cups in which the Spanish record holder Odei Jainaga could not be present due to injury.
The best were the leader of the year from Granada, Anderson Peters (89.91), the current Indian Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra (88.39), the German Julian Weber (87.28) and the Czech Jakub Vadlech (85.23). Along with the aforementioned Hoffmann, the other illustrious eliminated was Trinidadian Keshorn Walcotta shooter accustomed to moving over 90 meters and who only threw 78.87.
Manu Quijera did not reach 80 meters in the javelin
| EFE
And what about Pablo Torrijos in the triple classification? The man from Castellón is far from his best form and could only jump 16.32 in the only valid jump to finish light years from the classification in an event in which the great absentee is the newly minted Spaniard and brand-new leader of the year Jordan Diaz (will have to wait until at least 2024).
The Luso-Cuban Pichardo (17.16), the powerful Zango, from Burkina Faso (17.15), the Italian Ihemeje (17.13), the Chinese Zhu (17.08) and the Cuban Lázaro Martínez (17.06). The big losers were his compatriot Hecheverria (16.39) and the American multi-champion Christian Taylor far from his best moment (16.48).