Laura García Caro, two "disasters" and an unknown distance: the 35 kilometers

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At that party

was one of the protagonists.

Berlin European Championship 2018. Spain celebrated four medals in the march, the never lived, and four more finalist positions: one of them, theirs.

At only 23 years old, she finished sixth in the 20 kilometers and all predictions placed her on the podium in subsequent years.

Sooner than later.

But then the International Athletics Federation and the International Olympic Committee decided to subject the walkers from all over the world to the harshest conditions on the planet, heat and humidity in Qatar and Japan, a terrible suffocation, and there...

"This has been a disaster, a disaster. I have had very bad feelings, the humidity was very intense, it has been an unpleasant experience. Now I need to disconnect and disappear from the map for a little time," she commented disappointed at the World Cup in Qatar, where she finished thirty third.

García Caro assured then that it would not happen again, that it would improve her preparation to adapt to high temperatures, but it happened again.

At the Tokyo Games, again under an unbearable embarrassment, she finished among the last, in this case thirty-fourth.

Two disappointments, two disappointments that she, now yes, she proclaims.

they will not be repeated.

And this time she has all the looks.

In the first place because this Eugene World Cup is chilly every morning, 12ºC or 13ºC at dawn, a delight, and secondly because García Caro, from Huelva, directed by

, a Nursing graduate and Psychology student, image of Oysho , has changed many things to get better.

"An Unpredictable Race"

"I have started to march from scratch, forgetting the previous technique. After the Olympic experience I realized that I had to make certain changes and this year I am hopeful," says the walker who this Friday (3:15 p.m., Teledeporte) will be part of a historic event: the 35-kilometre race makes its debut, the distance that will replace the 50-kilometer race in World Championships, European Championships and, in principle, the Olympic Games.

Last March, she finished fourth in the international debut of the distance in the Team World Cup -precisely in Oman, with heat and humidity- and now she is ambitious for a podium that would catapult her to the 2024 Paris Games. "I think I can give of myself at this distance. It will be an unpredictable race because we don't have references from many rivals", analyzes García Caro and he is right.

On the list of entrants, who already stood out a few days ago in the 20 kilometers, the Peruvian

or the Chinese

, but it is very difficult to predict who will be in the lead.

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