Several athletes this morning before the test. /
Athletes of all categories will meet today at Bilbao’s Gran Vía to experience an athletics party in the morning
From 10:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. There will be about three hours of athletics festival, for all ages, where the youngest and also the oldest will have a place in a program that will culminate the best specialists of the national athletic scene. The Bilbao Mile, the best event of 2021 in the eyes of the Spanish Athletics Federation, has earned its place not only because of the quality of the professional cast that competes every year on the Gran Vía. Also because of the quantity, because of those more than thousand participants who have registered to take part this Saturday in the different categories established by the program.
The first race on the Gran Vía circuit located in front of the Diputación will be the one for master athletes. From there the starts will follow one another up to a total of 18, with the male elite at 1:10 p.m. and the female elite at 1:20 p.m. Afterwards, the awards ceremony will be held and a morning athletics session will end in the heart of the Biscayan capital.
The one in Bilbao, sponsored by EL CORREO, is the last mile of the national program before the start of the cross-country season. Although next week Zamora (22nd) is still scheduled, most athletes will focus on the cross, with Zornotza already knocking on the door next Sunday (23rd). That is why many of those who are lined up at the start are already accumulating training sessions to face the first objectives of the winter season with guarantees.
The great attraction of this edition of the Bilbao Mile is the presence of the Pole Marcin Lewandowski. Athletics fans have the opportunity to say goodbye to one of the great European athletes of the last decade, with four continental titles under his belt and the ability to be competitive whenever a title was at stake.
But the Gran Vía will also be home to the elite of Spanish athletics, with few exceptions. This is the case of Mariano García, indoor world champion in March and European outdoor champion in August. The Murcian won the Zaragoza Mile in September and is always competitive despite the fact that his goals for the season are still a long way off. Isaac Nader, winner last year, is one of the best millers at the moment and has just won last Saturday in Berango, so the Portuguese is the rival to beat. Or Ignacio Fontes, who this Wednesday was the fastest in the Jaén Mile.
In the women’s category, Solange Pereira has the opportunity to add one more mile to her record, although she will have to face the foreign duo formed by Jolanda Kallabis and Aimee Pratt, and also the BM Bilbao athlete Marta García, who makes a couple of weeks he won in Madrid and has a great option.
