The now so famous doha city It already hosted another World Cup around 2019. It was not as mediatic as the one that now moves with kicking a ball. They were not even so considerate of the participants, athletes who faced harsher Qatari temperatures at the end of September than they are today. And there was the new Spanish marathon record holder, the Catalan Marta Galimany, to debut in a world championship. He knew at that time that the weather was not conducive to achieving records like the one achieved on Sunday in Valencia. At that time he had already made the decision to dedicate himself professionally to athletics. On Sunday the historic record of the also historic Ana Isabel Alonso that had been going on since 1995.
A Galimanywho answers this newspaper by phone, his legs ache after having run 42,195 meters at a pace for below 3.28 minutes per kilometeralways in the wake of Roger Rock, who was a duathlon world champion, and who acted as a ‘hare’ through the streets of Valencia. and she is the same Marta already thinking about the next two challenges of his sports career, the World Cup 2023 of Budapest and the paris games 2024. “African athletes tend to perform much better in commercial marathons than in world or Olympic events, because there they do not run accompanied by men like ‘hares’. For this reason, the podiums are more accessible. Last year an American (Molly Siedel) stood on the Olympic podium. I think I still have one step to dream of medals, but the weather is not appropriate for setting records and sometimes tactics predominate much more, so the one that best adapts to the weather conditions is the one that can do the best. brand”.
For this reason, when he was preparing for Doha, in the middle of August, he went to the delta of the Ebro, from his native Valls, because it was the area of Catalonia that best suited the conditions he would find in Qatar. Delivered by her partner. Jordi Toda, the preparation for the Valencia marathon was very different. “The important thing was to train at altitude with all the benefits that it entails and that’s why we went to Font Romeu. I was able to run around the lake, on paths and thus improve in all aspects.”
He already broke the record for Alonso in 2022. It was very close. “The attempt convinced me that I could achieve it. Other great athletes had tried it before but were left at the gates. I knew that Sunday was the day. I had a team behind me that pushed me and I was aware that I had achieved a great improvement as a athlete”. He kept pace until kilometer 35. There, at the ‘marathon wall’ he felt strong. It was the moment to accelerate and the key to score with 2.26.14 hours a new record for Spain, 37 seconds better than that of Alonso.
“It was the perfect day to break the record: lots of people cheering in the streets, ideal weather, good feelings and arriving strong in the last seven kilometres, the decisive moment of the test,” he says. Galimany. At 37, sponsored by Adidas, with the same manager as Ana Peleteiro, she has already established herself with honors among the main figures of Spanish athletics. She now has to qualify for Paris, “and in the future try to beat my own marathon record.”
