The march betrays its tradition: further than ever from the medals

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"I don't understand it, I don't understand it", repeated

's trainer

, when half an hour into the race his pupil was sanctioned and he lost track of the podium.

Pérez, pure technical exquisiteness, unknown to the cards, even ended up disqualified in what would be the disaster of the Spanish march.

"I don't understand it, I don't understand it," the coach repeated and it was certainly incomprehensible.

Had he risked too much of her or had the judges taken it on her?

She gave so much.

She was out of the competition.

This Friday in the 20 kilometers, Spain had three options for a medal, perhaps the three most authentic of the entire Eugene World Championship, and all three ended badly or very badly.

Pérez's disqualification was later joined by

's exhaustion

, who finished sixteenth.

The 35 kilometers are missing and there is some possibility, but the walk is no longer a propitious specialty, what was so long.

The last time a walker reached a podium was in the 2015 World Cup and, hence, also, the selection drought in recent championships.

Despite the dominance of the Europeans, against the Asian and South American rivals the team shrinks, as also happened in the Tokyo Olympics.

"I lacked strength, I couldn't tell you why. Until kilometer 15 I looked good, but then the rivals moved away, I saw them close, and it didn't come to me", analyzed Martín in the mixed zone, in a line of certain conformity that María Pérez had previously scored: "It was the World Cup in which I was calmer, with more confidence, but not everything depends on you, it also depends on the judges and you have to abide by the decision".

This generation of athletes came from living the most extreme conditions in the world - the incandescence of the Qatar desert and the humidity of August in Japan - and in Eugene they found a perfect day to march, hot, but not much: it did not help either.

"The truth is that when I started I thought it would be a good day because this is normal time in Spain," said Martín, who was the one who came closest to success.

He was certainly ahead, very far ahead, until the Japanese

and

left and with them the Swedish

and the Kenyan

who stayed one step away from glory.

In category the podium went to the Peruvian

, history for their country, the Polish

and the Chinese

.

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