Lucas Sáez-Bravo Madrid
Madrid
Updated Friday, February 16, 2024-09:23
Beneath a fragile and petite appearance hides a stubborn, tenacious and fierce athlete, who runs with short and cheerful strides. Rather, she doesn't stop running. "I like to spend hours. Go out and get lost, connect with nature. You are alone, with your thoughts, you escape... It's almost a meditation."
Laura Luengo
is 26 years old and is a marathon runner. In reality, he has only done one marathon in his life: in Valencia, two months ago, he signed the best Spanish debut ever (2:25.35), a boom, a ticket for the Games pending confirmation this Sunday in Seville.
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In one year Laura's life has turned upside down. Three summits whose prize has been to definitively become a professional, sign with the Swiss brand On and be part of its elite world team, the OAC. "It's a support, it gives you peace of mind, the ability to create a plan for the future. I want to learn, be part of that. It will make me grow," he congratulates himself, although for the moment he will not join the rest in St. Moritz (Switzerland), but who will continue at Blume training with
Luismi Berlanas and Juan del Campo
, her guardian angels, who have made her an athlete always under the radar, who was not international until under-23, who combined studies and work, Spanish champion half marathoner and national distance record holder: in Valencia, in October, he flew at 3:18 per kilometer (1:09.41).
Now Laura is a star, although it is difficult for her to imagine herself in August in Paris, on the way to Versailles, fulfilling the Olympic dream that Berlanas (twice fifth in the Games) made the girl from her town, from San Martín, believe. from Valdeiglesias, who joined the family club because her friends did, who never stood out too much - "only in cross country, there I could see that she was faster than the others" - who suffered, like everyone else, the "very bad years of change to woman." "You get your period, it changes your body. Many give up there. I don't remember wanting to quit, but I do remember being further away from performance. I was youthful and ran less than when I was a cadet," she remembers without bitterness.
Laura Luengo.Bernardo DíazWORLD
Along her path, Laura never forgot her origins. She spends her summers working cherry picking in her native Pasaron de la Vera. Her uncles, farmers and ranchers. Her father who "collects garbage in trucks in Móstoles." "In my family, I was the first to go to university. That was always the first thing. It never hurts to go to town for a while and see that working in the fields is much harder. In an education. We believe that by running a marathon we are the toughest on the planet, but then you see my uncles...", reflects who has a degree in Law and Business Administration and continues to train, studying a Master's Degree in Digital Marketing and that when she now returns to Pasaron with her successes and medals tell him that his mother's family "were incredible at running, that no one caught them."
To the meeting with EL MUNDO, at mid-morning, he goes with his homework done, 17 kilometers of filming that he completed first thing in the morning around Casa de Campo. It can exceed 200 a week. "They told me: 'You're a marathoner.' of enjoyment that comes with his job, "although there are also days when you don't feel like it. I'm still 26 years old, my friends make plans and I can't because I have to run. To think that an athlete always wants to train, I see it impossible. There is a lot of fun, but you have to be disciplined, because if not... The day you feel bad... it doesn't matter, you have to go out."
That's why he idolizes
Marc Márquez
, "his competitive mentality, his instinct and self-confidence. These are things that inspire me." That's why he shares his life and his dreams with
Yago Rojo
, "two training geeks", another fashionable marathoner, with tickets to go to Paris together. And perhaps that is why Laura, who speaks softly, who does not attract attention, who transmits peace, is surprised by herself, by the ambitious version of her, that she only sees the light when the starting gun sounds. "I transform. When competing I am aggressive, I think I beat everyone. But I am not like that in real life, I am so cool there. They are like two Lauras. I talk about this a lot with the psychologist," he concludes, before remembering the best moment of her career, that Valencia Marathon that shot her to stardom on her debut: "I found myself as if I had done it many times. I felt relief, excitement. The body was dead, but the head was at a level of enjoyment, of control . It's magic".