Saturday, October 12, 2024, 00:58
The Gran Vía of Bilbao will once again be the center of athletics this Sunday with the eighteenth edition of the Bilbao International Mile, an event with the support of EL CORREO that seeks to become again, as it did in 2022, the best mile in Spain. On the route located in front of the Bizkaia Provincial Council, athletes of all categories will meet, from the youngest to the masters, to end with the two Elite events that bring together the best of national athletics, with a large representation of Olympians who were present in August in Paris.
Águeda Marqués, winner in Bilbao in 2023, leads the female participation, where two other middle distance runners who accompanied her in Paris, Marta Pérez and Esther Guerrero, stand out. Marqués reached the final of the Games in the 1500 meters and achieved the fifth Spanish mark in history (4:00.31), an Olympic event where Marta Pérez established the Spanish distance record in the semifinals with 3:57.75. Esther Guerrero, who this season has also broken the four-minute barrier (3:59.74), arrives in Bilbao after winning the Zamora Toro Mile.
The European 3000 hurdles finalist Carolina Robles leads Bilbao Atletismo Santutxu. Naima Ait Alibou, Laura Priego, Cristina Espejo, Iraia Mendía and Carla Arce complete the local formation, while the current European under-23 800 meters champion Daniela García and the former champion will also be involved in the fight for victory. from Spain of 800 in 2022 Lucía Pinacchio.
In the men’s race, the presence of the Spanish sensation of 2024, Mohamed Attaoui, stands out. The athlete from Torrelavega was fifth in a spectacular 800 meter final, where he was about to beat his own Spanish record of 1.42.04. Attaoui will be the rival to beat Adrián Ben and Mariano Gardía, two other great 800 meter specialists who know what it means to be European distance champion and who will offer a great show on Bilbao’s Gran Vía.
There will also be another of the most representative athletes of the Spanish middle distance who has already won in Bilbao, such as Adel Mechaal, and Dani Arce who has just finished 10th in the Paris Olympic Games and achieved the third Spanish record in history. in 3000 obstacles with 8:08.45, the fastest time in Europe in the last five years. The double European indoor medalist Jesús Gómez, the world and Olympic finalist Ignacio Fontes and the 2018 world indoor 800 meters bronze medalist Saúl Ordóñez are other contenders for the podium in Bilbao in what will be the last edition of the Mile of Bilbao, since its organization will give way from 2025 to a 10-kilometer road test that will see the light of day in March with the Spanish championship of the distance.
An extensive program
In this 18th edition, the program will once again be as extensive as possible, with around twenty tests for all ages that will start at 10:40 a.m. with the master test, and will end at 1:15 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. with the celebration of the two main events of the Bilbao Mile.
