The best Spanish sprinters will fight for a spot for the 4x100m and 4x400m national team at the Meeting of Madrid — a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meet — at Vallehermoso Stadium on 18 June, just one week before the Spanish Championship.
Reigning national champion Sergio López Barranco leads the 100m field with a personal best of 10.27 set in 2021 and tied this season. López Barranco, 22, won the silver medal in the 4x100m at the Tallinn European U23 Championship in 2021, and has been part of the Spanish relay team that claimed gold at the Ibero American Championship last May and clocked 38.97 at Meeting of Huelva four days later.
His two 4x100m teammates at the Ibero American Championship Bernat Canet and Jesús Gómes Villadiego will also toe the line in Madrid. Canet became Spanish 60 m champion in February by setting the national U23 record and reached the semifinals at the World Indoor Championship. Outdoors, he recently set a personal best of 10.33 in La Nucía.
Gómez Villadiego, the reigning Spanish 200m champion, won both 200m and 4x100m silver medals at the European U23 Championship in Tallinn. Though his 100m best is 10.50, this season has clocked slightly wind-aided 10.31 (+2.4) and 10.34 (+2.2).
European U23 100m bronze medalist Arnau Monné, 2019 Spanish 100m champion Sergio Juárez and 2021 Spanish runner-up Alberto Calero all own a personal best of 10.31 and will try to make the national relay team for the World or European Championship.
2020 Spanish champion Pablo Montalvo has the same goal, so he will try to show up in Vallehermoso the good shape he is in. Montalvo is yet to run a legal faster time than 10.55 in 2022, but he ran wind-aided 10.18 (+2.4) and 10.25 (+2.2) late in May.
Spanish U20 4x100m record-holders Jaime Sancho and Mario Mena will got their chance in Vallehermoso too. Sancho has set this campaign his personal best of 10.56, while Mena’s best of 10.61 is from 2021 and has run in 10.74 in 2022.
Three world indoor silver medalists for the 400m
Reigning European indoor champion Óscar Husillos leads the 400m field in Madrid. At 28, Husillos owns the second-fastest time by a Spaniard with 44.73 set in 2018. He was part of the 4x400m team that broke the Spanish record with 3:00.65 to place fifth in the 2017 World Championship final, and was also a member of the team that took bronze at the 2018 European Championship. In 2022, Husillos has become Ibero American 4x400m champion and clocked 46.15 in his only 400m race.
World indoor 4x400m silver medalists Iñaki Cañal, Manuel Guijarro and Bernat Erta will also race at the Meeting of Madrid. Cañal set a personal best of 46.04 in his last competition on 11 June and Guijarro has already run in 46.20 this year. Both two won the relay silver medal at Ibero American Championship, like Husillos did. In his only race of the season, Erta clocked a season-opener best of 46.21 in Grosseto.
400m hurdles specialist Javier Sánchez Santos was also part of the relay team in Belgrade, though he didn’t race neither the heats nor the final. In the only 400m flat race he has taken part in 2022 he ran in 47.46, but he has set a personal best of 51.52 in the 400m hurdles. The 22-year-old won the bronze medal at 2021 Spanish Championship with a personal best of 45.96.
Spanish 4x400m record-holders Samuel García and Lucas Búa have been confirmed for Madrid too. They were key members of the team that finished fifth at 2017 World Championship and third at the 2018 European Championship. García has run 46.64 this outdoor campaign, while Búa is the second-fastest Spaniard of the year with 45.74.
Complete the 400m field the 22-year-old David Fradera, who set a personal best of 46.79 the last weekend in Madrid, and his coach Pau Fradera, who at 35 has run a season best of 47.28 and clocked his best time of 46.30 in 2021. Don’t miss out on your chance to enjoy watching the best Spanish sprinters at the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver Meeting of Madrid. Secure your seats at https://www.enterticket.es/eventos/world-athletics-continental-tour-silver-madrid-2022-563018
