• LUCAS SÁEZ-BRAVO

    @LucasSaezBravo

Updated Thursday, 15July2021-02: 07

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  • Katir Bate her third Spanish record

"I do not remember a similar phenomenon in Spanish athletics,"

Jesus Spain

pronounces

the general feeling, an irruption so unique that it is even hard to believe. He is

Mohamed Katir

, a stranger until a few months ago, today aspiring to everything. "I wouldn't be surprised if he was an Olympic champion in Tokyo." A 23-year-old boy born in Alcazarquivir (Morocco) and raised in Mula, where there is no running track, Spanish since the last day of 2019. Long hair in the wind, infinite stride, in the last month he has pulverized three records in Spain with a halo of legend.

First, on June 10 in Florence, the 5,000 meters, seven seconds less (12: 50.79) than the mark that

Alemayehu Bezabeh

boasted

since 2010. Then, last Friday, in Monaco, the mythical 1,500 (3: 28.76) by

Fermín Cacho

, in force since 1997. And four days later, in Gateshead, shouting "I'm not listening to anyone, how am I!", The 3,000-meter run by

Isaac Viciosa

1998 (7: 27.64) and that "it was not with the idea of ​​making time", as announced in the preview. "Those are very serious marks that he has beaten. The 5,000 with a lot of margin, the 1,500 was a time that in its day was a European record and was among the best in the world, Cacho, no less", warns Spain, who admits That the one achieved on Tuesday was "almost logical", although ... "I liked that he won, because it is not the same to do it by finishing fourth or fifth. And it gave me the feeling that I had a margin, two or three seconds less, it ended very strong".

All that boom a couple of weeks before the Games, where, however, he will only compete in the 5,000-meter test, now, by force of his times, among the favorites, although until recently no one knew too much about him .

Katir, who tried as a

forward in Huesca

, was forged by running through open fields when the family moved to Mula, "doing series in the Sierra de Espuña" as he complained a couple of years ago in an interview in

La Verdad

de Murcia, and participating in popular races to get some money "for material."

His father had come by boat a few years before he was born, to work.

His mother, an Egyptian, was waiting in Larache.

At the age of five they met.

Nationalized in 2019

Even without nationality, which he requested first by nature letter and then by residence - without success until a year and a half ago - he began to win races, such as the 3,000 Spanish Championship in 2016. But it was not until 2021 that he called at the gates of the elite. Since September he has been training with

Gabi Lorente

, a young 31-year-old coach. He has carried out several concentrations in height in Sierra Nevada, hence the improvement. And even from setbacks he has learned. "Last year he already started making national elite brands. And this year he has placed himself among the best in the world. Except for the Getafe national team [

Carlos Mayo

beat him

], who had problems with his shoes, in the rest of the tests. , is with the

top

world. The kid has had a very good progression and I'm excited to see him. It is not that he wins second row rallies, he is winning the Diamond ", proclaims Spain, European champion in 2006 and eight times champion of Spain in the 5,000 meters in which Katir will look for a medal in Tokyo, in love with a midfielder who does not He sees similarities in him, although others sense a

Reyes Estévez

mirror in his power

. "I like the way he runs, always ahead. Tall, beautiful stride, good feet, with a good ankle. It transmits ease, ease. I would not know how to compare him with anyone, "he explains.

And he defends that he does not double, as perhaps his greatest rival now,

Jakob Ingebrigtsen

, with whom he shared concentration in Granada. "Running one of the two finals with another race in the legs is complicated. He did well. In the 1,500 it would be competitive, but it is more tactical," he says. If everything goes as his marks, his rivals in Tokyo will be

Joshua Cheptegei

, world record holder, whom he has already beaten, the Kenyans, the Canadian Moh Ahmed and, of course, Ingebrigtsen.

To deal with the pressure that he can no longer avoid, Mo will continue to read poetry,

Machado

, and even write it as usual.

Before success, he was preparing to become a firefighter.

Now ... "His level is

world

top

. And, unfortunately, we have had very few athletes like this throughout history. Fermín,

José Luis González

... But he also has versatility. I have not seen nothing like it. He can beat anyone ", concludes Spain.

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