The mere fact of raising it sounded bold. Or courage. Mario Mola, three times triathlon world champion , the main trick of Spain in Tokyo for Olympic gold this summer, ventured to compete in cross with the best national specialists. And the result, this Sunday in Zaragoza, never ceases to amaze. The Balearic, which ran precisely with the colors of its autonomous community, finished in seventh position, less than a minute from the winner, Carlos Mayo.

It really wasn't something new for Mola, which exactly a decade ago was already runner-up of junior Spain in cross country. The foot race was always his forte, to the point that he could have built a professional career in athletics if he had not opted for triathlon. But the fact of daring at this point in a cross competition, with the season of 'his own' dawning, was more the result of chance, of the suspension because of the coronavirus of the first World Series test in Abu Dhabi and of the loss of one of the members of the Balearic team (David Palacio).

And there was a lot of curiosity about how he would compete with the specialists in the Linear Park of Plaza de Zaragoza . Side by side with them, starting without wrinkling and then in the chasing group, Mola has signed a time of 29:49, 42 seconds from the champion, May and 12 from the absolute bronze, Daniel Mateo (second was Toni Abadía). "Great experience! Very happy with my return to the cross and contributing a seventh place to the ranking of the Balearic team. Thank you all for the love and congratulations to all the finalists, especially the beasts that took the podium final, "he wrote on his social networks.

In the women's category, the winner, with an exhibition, was Irene Sánchez-Escribano . "I wanted to escape and break the group since the second round because the fight not only becomes physical but also psychological," explained EFE Toledo, a specialist in 3,000 obstacles (four times champion of Spain). Second was Carolina Robles and third Paula González.

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