Same dates, same track, Antequera, same achievement: gold in the Spanish under-23 indoor championship. But Ignacio Bernardo (Oviedo 2002) surpasses himself without stopping. Yesterday he won the national title with a mark of 2.17 meters, which is the historical record for Asturias and the best national mark of the year. In fifteen days the absolute is celebrated and there is no choice but to take it into account. “The height is very tough sometimes, but I’m going up,” confesses the Asturian athlete on the return trip from Andalusia to Soria, where he resides.
It will be difficult for Bernardo to forget yesterday. First he equaled his best mark, 2.12, and then he beat it twice, surpassing 2.15 and 2.17. With gold guaranteed, he made two attempts over 2.21, the record set by his coach at Atletismo Numantino, Enrique Márquez Calle. “I have that feeling with him,” Bernardo explains with a laugh. Already lost, he went to the river, so the third attempt was with a height of 2.22, which would have been a record for the championships and a minimum for the absolute European. He came out tails, but not by too much: “It was the best attempt I made, fought and with possibilities.”
The season has only just begun, but yesterday’s medal and, especially, the record mark a before and after for Bernardo. “He had only been able to compete twice and he arrived with 2.04, he knew he was ready to jump in training, but not that bad,” says the champion, who recognizes “a total change in terms of objectives and mentality.”
Some technical modifications have been introduced into the jumping routine by the athlete and his coach. Bernardo explains that he is much faster, and that he starts the impulse several steps further back. “I think it is one of the aspects that I have worked on the most this year, I am physically much better, but I am also more controlled when eating and also mentally. I am advised by my mother, who has also been an athlete, and by my coach and my teammates, that help me keep my feet on the ground.
Otherwise, little has changed in the life of Ignacio Bernardo, who is happy in Soria, where he moved to study Sports. “It is not a very big city, but it has everything you need, tranquility, facilities, the career I want to study… it has everything to be calm and for things to work out,” remarks Bernardo, who demonstrates his bonhomie by being happy about the medal bronze medal obtained in the same event by another Asturian athlete, Rubén Naya from Gijón, from Universidad: “I always say that he is my successor (laughs) because for me it is my last year in the category. It has been a surprise, he has done a great contest and I’m as happy for myself as I am for him.”
That of the high jumpers was the most outstanding performance of the regional representatives in the National under-23, but not the only one. The middle distance runners Claudia Rendueles (Oviedo Atletismo) and Laura López (Sprint) were sixth and eighth respectively. Also participating in the Antequera events were the hurdlers Henar Suárez (Oviedo Atletismo) and Nerea Alonso (City of Lugones), the four-centist Sergio Plata (City of Lugones) and the shot putter Emiliano Zazo (University of León).
2024-02-05 03:01:00
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