Mohamed Katir from Murcia, Mario García Romo from Salamanca and Ignacio Fontes from Granadathree Spanish debutants in some world championships outdoor, qualified for the Eugene 1,500 finalin the three cases by positions, without having to wait for the playoffs.
Spain did not have three representatives in the 1,500 world final since Osaka 2007when Sergio Gallardo (seventh), Arturo Casado (12) and Juan Carlos Higuero (13) entered.
García Romo and Ignacio Fontes shared a very tough first semifinal with the Olympic champion, the Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen; the outdoor world champion, Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot; and the indoor world title holder, Samuel Tefera. To get automatic classification had to finish in the top five and the repechage only gave two more places.
Ingebrigtsen took the lead to set a lively pace and the Spaniards had positioning problems. Fontes was far behind and García Romo locked upbut both solved the problem in the last 100.
The man from Salamanca, with enormous cold blood, invented a gap between a cloud of elbows to progress to second place (3:37.01), behind the British Josh Kerr (Olympic bronze), and the man from Granada sprinted to fifth place (3:37.21), the last in direct classification.
To the champion of Spain and national record holder, Mo Katir, had a second career with people of less renown although seven of them have a better record than him this year.
Australian Stewart McSweyn cleaned up the race with his generous effort at the front of the pack and made it easy for the Spaniard, who finished second with 3:34.45behind the Kenyan Abel Kipsang (3:33.68).
The men’s 1,500 final will be played next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. local (4:30 a.m. on Wednesday in Spain).
