How do you break a record? This makes it difficult to answer the question. It depends on so many factors, that it seems impossible to chart a single path to success. There are times when, for the sheer talent of the athlete, the brand is sung ahead of time. Others arrive when they arrive, even without warning. Esther Guerrero has been running for years. Surely he had never stopped to think, coldly, that his big goal was to beat the best mark in about 3,000. Mainly because he had never run that distance in a test outside of training. It is by no means his specialty. If the 800 opened the doors to success a few years ago, its current natural habitat is 1,500 and it is difficult to move from there. But this season, one that comes full of level tests and challenges, was starting atypically. In Manchester, to open fire in the indoor races, the banyolina was encouraged with the 3,000. I was not looking for any brand, but sensations to face what is to come. In fact, it dropped to nine minutes and stopped the clock at 8.56.61, the best record of a Catalan athlete, surpassing the time of Natàlia Rodríguez almost two decades ago. The best way to start a 2022 that looks well loaded. There are two World Championships, both outdoor and indoor, and one European. And in a couple of years, in 2024, on the horizon but getting closer, the Paris Olympics. Guerrero has it all on the agenda.
Perhaps she herself was surprised by her response at the 3,000 in Manchester but not Joan Lleonart, who has been coaching her since 2012 and with whom she has lived her best years as a professional athlete. Despite the obvious kilometers between someone who lives in Banyoles and a technician living in Manresa, their contact is daily and every two to three, they are in Olot. If it can be a couple of days a week, go ahead. Already last year the possibility of making the jump and running a 3,000 had been considered. Not to change category permanently, but to try and be part of the training. “It’s an experience we had to go through,” says Leonart. “We needed to see how she valued distance, how she felt. Esther didn’t think so much, but I and her entourage did appreciate it. Maybe in the future, we don’t know when, and maybe never, but who knows if in a European indoor track he can run such a distance. Waiting to see what happens, last Saturday in Manchester things went well enough. A sixth place, yes, but Catalonia’s record in the pocket. Just the first time he put it on.
“It simply came to our notice then. I could have gone even faster, but the race was very slow. For now, the experiment is parked. It is not planned to go there again this year, but it is far from clear that the possibility of returning to it will be hidden forever in a drawer. “Wood in tea. It was hard for her to make the jump from 800 to 1,500 and now no one would move her from where she is. It may not have the profile of the 3,000, but in a European Championship, in a final that is usually tactical and with a strong end, we do see it. So far it has been released with good tuning and good feelings. She is not used to this type of test, with changes of pace, a race that is usually blocked, but even that made her distracted.
A European between World Cups
After overcoming Manchester’s experience, Esther Guerrero recovers 1,500, a distance she will hardly leave all season, except for a few miles or an 800. For now, it’s the turn of a “very intense winter” and the next stop, in the context of the World Indoor Tour Gold, will compete tomorrow in Karlsruhe (Germany) and on February 6 in Boston. The first major event of a certain level is the Spanish Championship, at the end of February, which this year hosts Ourense and where it is preparing to make its mark again. But it is from March, and especially in the summer, when the main events are presented. First, with the World Cup in Belgrade. “We want to go there to add more experience, but unfortunately those in the West tend to have fewer options on these dates, because there are Africans, great dominators.” Lleonart, on the other hand, is upset that he is at the European Championships in Munich in the summer, when the options for a great time are multiplying. “It’s our main goal, where we have to live up to it.” The only downside is that just a month earlier, the World Athletics Championships were held in Eugene, USA. Tests, tests and more tests. “We want to be on all three dates. If the sensations and the physique accompany her, Esther will be there. And this is not the end of the matter, because the calendar still has room for the Mediterranean Games (where Guerrero will probably not take part) and the Ibero-Americans.
And all in all, when in just ten days he will be 32 years old. “We have been at the helm of the state elite for many years, being the leading midfielder. He continues to be very eager, taking care of himself, fighting and working with the goal of being in Paris. An Olympics, big words. It was already in Rio, in 2016. Also in Tokyo, last summer. “I see it as possible to compete in third-party games and we focus our daily work on this direction and enthusiasm. I hope she goes there and she decides to go even further. He has a rope, but we’ll see how far it goes. It should be noted that the world elite is very aggressive. She will decide, but I think she can still get to Paris in full physical and mental condition. ” Maybe he does, even with some experience in a 3,000 more in his pocket. And some record, who knows.
