Álvaro Martín and Diego García, gold and bronze in the 20-kilometre walk of the European Athletics Championships – EL PAÍS

Every four years the president of the United States changes, and every four years Álvaro Martín has an appointment in Germany for a challenge: 20 kilometers on foot, to see who wins. Whoever does it awaits a gold medal and acclaim. To the one who loses, a face of circumstances, a joy for a second prize, the desire to return and win. This is the Spanish march, in which individual bets have European repercussions, and so envied by all, even by the myth Robert Korzeniowski, the Polish marcher who gave meaning to the specialty and who walks, well covered by a raincoat through Munich and he whistles, how well are you doing, eh?, he tells the Spaniards he meets. More information And Álvaro Martín passes quickly, fleetingly, and continues. They chase him and no one catches up with him. He is pursued by Diego García, as in Berlin four years ago, and as then he gives in. Four of the 20 kilometers of the test remain. They have been walking for more than an hour, at more than 15 kilometers per hour, so fast they march, less than four minutes per kilometer, up and down Ludwigsstrasse, the main street of Munich, between a batucada at one end and a chunda chunda brass band in the other, Pajaritos and Macarena, at the finish line in the Plaza del Odeón. The athlete Álvaro Martín, after winning the race this Saturday in Munich. ANDREJ ISAKOVIC (AFP) The Spanish Diego García celebrates his third place after crossing the finish line. LUKAS BARTH (REUTERS)The athletes, at a moment of the competition, this Saturday.ANDREJ ISAKOVIC (AFP)From the left, Perseus Karlstroem from Sweden and the Spaniards, Álvaro Martín and Diego García.RONALD WITTEK (EFE)Álvaro Martín (to the right) applauds Diego García after achieving third place this Saturday.ANDREJ ISAKOVIC (AFP)The athlete Álvaro Martín celebrates his first place after crossing the finish line this Saturday in Munich.ANDREJ ISAKOVIC (AFP)A moment of the competition in the streets from Munich (Germany), this Saturday c.ANDREJ ISAKOVIC (AFP)Álvaro Martín (on the left) and Diego García, after passing through the goal in first and third position.RONALD WITTEK (EFE)From left to right, Perseus Karlstrom from Sweden (silver), Álvaro Martín (gold ) and Diego García (bronze) with the medals. RONALD WITTEK (EFE) As then, as in Berlin 2018, the strongest is Álvaro, the 28-year-old Extremaduran from Llerena, so serious and formal, his inscrutable gaze behind his glasses of sun, and his parents, so nervous on the sidewalk with their red umbrella. And Álvaro only thinks about accumulating enough advantage to be able to feel like a champion, again, 100 meters before reaching the final place, to have time to enjoy the pleasure, to gloat, to let the endorphins make him think that there is no better place in the world to be that there, in the rain before walkers and tourists who applaud him in admiration, that he would not want to change for any other person at that moment for anything in the world. Not even for the president of the United States, who changes every four years, but he continues. Champion as in 2018. “It seems that I am good at German land”, says Álvaro, a person who never forgets that responsibility is the first obligation, and respect for what is public, and sometimes he even refuses to take a taxi and Pass the ticket to the federation if you can solve a trip on the subway or bus, and it even seems that you refuse to abandon yourself to complete enjoyment. “But well, I also want to point out that I didn’t find myself as I should have found myself in the last world championship, when I finished seventh. And here yes, yes I have been able to achieve it. It made me a little angry because it was so good. Obviously, it is very good to win a European Championship, but we did come with that World Cup thorn. Now, to continue enjoying the Spanish march. Now there is Maria too. Let the party continue”. And as she speaks, María Pérez passes by, with the entire contingent of the women’s event, of which she was champion in Berlin. But in Munich she hesitates. The woman from Granada was disqualified from the World Cup in Eugene and she fears that the same thing will happen to her again in the European Championship. “I come with technical problems,” she says. “I’m not doing well.” Her previous fears were prescient. She sped up she took a big lead at mile 10, and she was disqualified for running. She won, like the Greek Antigoni Ntrismpioti in the 35 kilometres.Diego García (on the right) is congratulated by Álvaro Martín after achieving third place.Adam Pretty (Getty Images) Álvaro Martín has marched 1h 19m 11s. He crosses the finish line and waits for Diego to arrive, who started marching with him in Madrid, but then they parted ways. Martín went to live in Cieza, García stayed in Madrid. But Diego does not arrive but another friend, the Swedish Perseus Karlsöm, a nomad with a foam Viking helmet. Diego García has not endured. He waited for Álvaro’s attack, who knew that he was going to break the test since his great favourite, the Italian Olympic and world champion Massimo Stano, was not doing well. He has tried to follow him and when his body, his digestive system, was trying harder, he rebelled against his effort. “I suffered a flatus that I could not remove in the pit of my stomach,” explains the 26-year-old from Madrid, who remains livid in the middle of the street. He loses his rhythm, loses even his gremlin look, that killer gleam in his eyes that comes out when he’s feeling strong. Finally, thanks to several breathing exercises on the run, he recovers. But Karlström, who is also a friend of all, has already beaten him, an honorary member of the Spanish marching brotherhood. “I’m trained by the Irish Robert Heffernan, a friend of Paquillo in Guadix, and I’ve come to Spain a lot, to train Guadix, Torrevieja, Getafe, Madrid…”, says the Swede, son of a Mexican marcher, in Spanish. Enrique Vera, and Siv, a Swedish walker who at the age of five accompanied her by bicycle while she was training. The genes of the march made a tall, dark, and quarrelsome stem, which mercilessly overtakes Diego García and accelerates towards the Plaza del Odeón, where a silver medal awaits him and the friendly hug of Álvaro Martín, happy and talkative, and patient, who waits a little longer, 35s, a sigh, to hug Diego García, the hug he didn’t give him in Berlin, when they were a little angry. And 14 seconds later, the emotional, sweaty and rain-soaked hug corresponds to Alberto Amezcua, from Guadix, 30 years old, and like María Pérez, he is part of Daniel Jacinto Garzón’s group, who comes in fourth. And the three are at the top of European athletics. And each one marches with a school. Christs and virgins march with Spain, say the faithful of Cieza, who do not disdain at all the weight of the Munich skies, of the sun that burns one day, of clouds and water another, and of their holy inhabitants and martyrs, in the successes of the athletes of their school. Miguel Ángel López, the Superman of Llano de Brujas, wins the gold of the 35 kilometers on Tuesday, and Álvaro Martín who has gone to live in Cieza, where the peaches and the passion of José Antonio Carrillo. And from the march also came the silver medal in the 35 kilometers for Raquel González, who is from Mataró (Barcelona), but trains with Diego García in the Madrid group of José Antonio Quintana. On the day of the 35 kilometers, Manuel Bermúdez, a young marcher from Cieza, who began marching as a child out of admiration for Juanma Molina, the first great local figure, celebrated his fourth place by wearing a bright yellow hood next to the Spanish flag, and happily explained that he was from the Brotherhood of Santa María Magdalena, of which he was very devoted and a member since before he was born. At one end of the circuit, on the sidewalk next to the Sieges gate, the Spanish team sets up its beach bar. At the bar, little bottles of water, assorted liquids, glucose, salts to prevent dehydration, no ice, no refrigerated caps this rainy Saturday, autumn in Munich in August. Behind the bar, on a small table where sports cocktails are prepared, a small folding chapel, that of Santo Cristo del Perdón de Cieza, presides over the place through which they pass, every eight minutes, more or less, a lap of two kilometers, the marchers to stock up. They are attended by José Antonio Carrillo, the wise man from Cieza, the most veteran of the Spanish marching coaches, his colleague from Madrid José Antonio Quintana and also the one from Guadix, Granada, Daniel Jacinto Garzón, the youngest of the three. They are not just any waiters. They are the most responsible for the brilliance and splendor of the Spanish march, which continues to triumph in the Europeans. The three schools, the three fundamental nuclei of youth, training and education, Cieza (Murcia), Madrid, Guadix (Granada). Three passionate, so many champions, so responsible for the heritage received since the days of the Catalan pioneers Jordi Llopart and Josep Marín. “A medal is a reward for life,” says Diego García. “And also a way of caring for the legacy of our ancestors.” And Álvaro Martín closes the issue with a request. “That one day, as time passes, my name will be erased and that others will appear who continue to maintain our march, our tradition, those great legends that we have had, Valentí Massana, Chuso García Bragado, Llopart and others. Keep marchers coming out”.Álvaro Martín (on the left) and Diego García celebrate their victory.RONALD WITTEK (EFE)You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on Facebook and Twitter, or sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.