GERMAN ROAD RACES e.V.

All eyes were set on Sunday’s men’s 1500m final as no less than 11(!) Spaniards had clocked inside the Worlds qualifying standard and so the battle for the team

Diego Ruiz taking the fiercely fought 1500m title at the Spanish indoor champs (Julio Fontán)
Valencia, Spain - As has become tradition, the middle distance events were the main focus at the Spanish Indoor Championships held over the weekend (27-28 February) at the ‘Palau Velòdrom Luís Puig’, as the country's best athletes geared up for the World Indoor Championships to be held in Doha (Qatar) next 12-14 March.

Diego Ruiz in the 1500m, Jesús España over 300m alongside Luis Alberto Marco in the 800m became the standout athletes throughout the weekend in the men’s side. In the women’s section, it was also the longer distances that provided the highlights with Natalia Rodríguez showing fine form in her specialist 1500m. All four athletes are European indoor medallists from Turin 2009.

Ruiz secures tough1500m Doha berth

All eyes were set on Sunday’s men’s 1500m final as no less than 11(!) Spaniards had clocked inside the Worlds qualifying standard and so the battle for the team berths on offer promised to be fierce even in the absence of last year’s title holder Arturo Casado whose indoor campaign has only consisted of a sole 7:49.86 3000m appearance at the IAAF permit in Valencia a fortnight ago.

The race opened at a pedestrian pace with the packed group covering the first 400m in 1:05.53 to go through the 800m point in only a slightly quicker pace of 2:08.92, with the reigning World indoor bronze medallist Higuero in the lead. It was 2007 European U-23 champion Álvaro Rodríguez (SB of 3:38.06) who took charge of the race shortly afterwards to inject a much brisker pace (56.5 for the 800-1200 section).

However, Rodríguez’s change of gear didn’t manage to leave Ruiz, Higuero and Manuel Olmedo –a 1:45 800m runner who has moved up this winter to the 1500m event - behind and the four milers entered the closing lap with winning chances.

The final 200m were more than thrilling: Rodríguez still managed to keep at bay the others with some 50m left but he was overtaken by a fast-finishing Ruiz – who is a former 400m specialist – and Olmedo who pipped Rodríguez on the inside barely 10 metres from home. 3:46.38 was Ruiz’s winning time and less than one tenth covered the first three as Olmedo (SB of 3:39.82) clinched silver in 3:46.40 while Rodríguez had to settle for third – as was the case last year – timed at 3:46.47.

Fourth placed Higuero (3:46.73) was the major casualty of the race as he will not be able to defend the bronze medal he reached at this same arena at the last World indoors back in 2008.

A joyful Ruiz, who managed his second indoor title after his 2006 success, declared: “Coming into the championships I was very confident in myself because of my previous performances (SB of 3:37.86). When the pace proved to be quite slow I thought the win should be for me. I have been quite focused throughout the race and my tactic consisted of waiting behind to save as much energy as possible and strike on the final stages.”

Asked on his Doha ambitions the 28-year-old Ruiz said: “We have to wait and see as Doha will be my debut on a world level event. Today’s gold is an enormous confident booster but Doha will gather the top Kenyans and other stars so my first goal will be to make the final and once there everything is possible.”

España is the 3000m boss

In the absence of the newly minted European 3000m record holder Sergio Sánchez, the men’s 3000m contest witnessed a magnificent display by the reigning European 5000m champion Jesús España. Full article at iaaf.org

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