For athletics, Saturday is being sad.
We are crying over the tragedy of the physiotherapists Ángel Basas and his son Carlos, both of whom died in a traffic accident in New Zealand, where they had gone to spend a few days after the Bathurst Cross Country World Championship, a week ago, in neighboring Australia.
The family of athletics, that of Spanish sports in general, fondly remembers the personality of both, characters who are extraordinarily loved for their dedication to others and their professionalism, but while crying things happen, and some provide a flash of light in the drama.
That’s how weird all this is. We come from the tragedy of Ángel and Carlos and we find ourselves with this wonder of Mechaal -says Antonio Serrano, the mid-distance runner’s coach, this Mechaal who insists on winning the spotlight, and he does well.
So magnificent is this new school of Spanish fifteen hundred, so flourishing, that it can afford to do without two first swords -Mo Katir and Mario García Romo will not attend the European Indoor in Istanbul next week-, and even so it continues to give away fancy things .
The latter has been signed by Adel Mechaal (32), a Stakhanovist athlete, one who does not give up and fights for everything, be it the route, the cross, the entire range of middle distance, from 800 to 10,000, even the marathon…
-Well, not the marathon yet. Look, they’ve been proposing it for a long time, that he get on the marathon, but I tell him to keep quiet, that he can still do good things on the track. And here it is, with this record -says Antonio Serrano.
Serrano’s voice denotes euphoria.
He answers the phone, minutes after his pupil’s feat: Adel Mechaal has just broken the Spanish indoor record of 1,500m, signing 3m33s28 in Birmingham, a record that dates back to 1999 (Andrés Díaz, 3m33s32), from the times in that another generation, that of Díaz himself, and Reyes Estévez, Redolat, Parra, Viciosa and an autumnal Cacho, also reigned in Europe.
(In fact, that mark by Andrés Díaz was also a European record, a milestone that lasted until 2021, when Jakob Ingebrigtsen snatched it from him, registering 3m31s80).
“I had to play, and the other day in Gallur they had stayed close,” says Andrés Díaz, who answers La Vanguardia on the phone, from his Galicia.
(On Wednesday, Mo Katir had signed 3m34s32 and Mechaal, 3m34s82).
-I think that in Gallur they made a little mistake with the rhythm, they came out too strong -adds Díaz.
-And how do you feel now, having lost the record? she asks him.
-I feel that we are getting old, but we are still the same people. And this is not a good fit, but I wish Mechaal a successful career. I am very happy for his feat. I had been preparing myself for a while, you know? He already added several shots to the post. Actually, I didn’t expect this record to last 24 years, so I’ve had time to get used to the idea. Already in 2021, when Adrián Ben called me to announce that Ingebrigtsen had taken the European record from me, I felt cold. But that’s it, I keep my marks and my memories.
(…)
On the track, at the Birmingham meeting, Mechaal stuck to Gourley, and Gourley to Kerr, and Kerr to the hare, Erik Sowinski, who led them in single file to a thousand in 2m22s (just like in his day Pedro Antonio Esteso had guided the gigantic Andrés Díaz in Piraeus).
-Already in the morning, Mechaal had warned me – Antonio Serrano now says -: he had told me: ‘Antonio, I’m going for the record. And if I don’t, I’ll stay close.’ And I had believed it, because the Birmingham track is very good, with long straights and wide curves. And because Mechaal is like a plane. I have seen him work at rates of 2m24s per kilometer.
The race is perfect. Sowinski carries everyone in the air, at 2m22s a thousand, and then Kerr keeps the tension going in the final 500, which is run in 1m11s…
And so on to the record.
(Mechaal finishes second; Neil Gourley prevails, in 3m32s48, which is a British record, another weight milestone).
Serrano applauds the feat of his one-man band and blesses the gatherings in the Sierra Nevada, where his pupil has spent the winter, jogging on the treadmill next to Mo Katir and watching the snow through the windows, and gazing out of the corner of his eye at the Norwegians who frequent Granada, the Ingebrigtsen, with Jakob among them, whose silhouette is already shaping up for next week, in Istanbul.
There, in Turkey, Mechaal and Jakob Ingebrigtsen will play for the 3,000 title (since the Norwegian has confirmed that he will seek his second 1,500-3,000 indoor double).
-And where does this generation come from? Diaz is asked.
-Well, they stimulate each other, just like González and Abascal did in their day, and in my time, Cacho. We shared concentrations, we saw each other closely. I watched Cacho work and I saw him as something better than me, but after all, by my side. So thanks to him I believed it.
