Dice Asier Martínez that respect is earned and that we don’t see him among the hot favorites for medals at this World Cup but his debut in Eugene couldn’t have been more promising. The Navarrese won his series of 110 hurdles with a time of 13.37 (-0.3), passing through the positions for tomorrow’s semi-finals (2:05 a.m. on Monday, July 18 in Spain).
The sixth in the Olympic final in Tokyo came well out of the blocks and still on the ball, living a very placid race after the stumble of the American Daniel Roberts (13.03 this year), who ate the seventh obstacle and finished until ‘on the ground.
Quique Llopiswho raced in the following series, also went to the semi-finals, although in his case with much more suspense because I finished fifth with a time of 13.58 (+0.2) -only the first four passed directly- and entered by times for only four thousandths to the detriment of the Chinese Wenjun Xie.
I look good, quite comfortable, and I can see myself doing weeks but the semis are going to be expensive
The world champion in Doha, the American Grant Hollowaywas the fastest in the series with a time of 13.14 (+0.4), three hundredths better than Olympic gold Scroll of Hansle.
Already in the mixed zone, Asier Martínez he wanted to watch his teammate Llopis’ race on television before attending the Spanish press. Matter of camaraderie. “I look good, pretty comfortable, and I’ve been chasing a good mark for weeks, but the semi-finals are going to be expensive,” he warned.
As for Roberts’ fall, the Navarrese explained the following: “I saw out of the corner of my eye that he hit two fences and he’s already stopped at the next one. Trying to be clean is key in these races as fences weigh down even great champions“.
“At the end I stopped squeezing because I saw that Sasha Zhoya -the new French flagship of the specialty- came from behind and it is true that I had a quiet end”, he added.
3,000 female hurdles
At 3000 hurdles, bittersweet feeling for Irene Sanchez-Escribano and Carolina Robles, who, despite their personal mark, were excluded from the final. Particularly bright was the woman from Toledo, who ranked second on Spain’s all-time list after Marta Domguez with a time of 9:23.94 (he had 9:27.53).
Sánchez-Escribano raced in the fastest series, the second, and competed until the last lap, but eventually I finished tenth, so I had no chance of advancing to the final by achieving the first three and the six best times of the three series in contention.
Sevillian Robles didn’t do badly either, which with a time of 9:28.24, she finished ninth in the final run, bettering his best record to date (9:32.24). And it is that you had to run in 9.21 “naked” to enter the final, in the most expensive series in history.