From Expourense to the elite of European athletics

Closed athletics track exposure It didn’t take long for him to occupy a relevant place on the national sports map. Added to the structure of the fairground in 2017 (it was officially opened at the end of that year), the commitment to materials of the latest generation made it one of the best in the country, but also on the European continent. So it soon became logical that it was Spanish Royal Athletics Federation established in the area of ​​Ourense competitions of different categories, even up to Absolute Spanish Championshipwhich hosted the city in the 2020 and 2022 editions.

Last year, the executive board of Expourense took another important step, by creating the position of sports director of the facility, in which mario gonzalez (former athlete and coach), with experience as head of the Municipal Council for Sports, seemed to be the ideal person to encourage activities on the track.

And among these new initiatives, they managed to win technicians from the stock of those who make up the national teams. That is the case Toni Puig, responsible for the 4 x 400 relay and who usually also works with hurdlers the size of Quique Llopis and Kevin Sánchez. In fact, both were integrated into the concentration the coach commanded in Ourense last weekend.

“Everything went very well, they did their best to provide us with all the comfort and we very calmly developed the entire planned program. These days will be very useful for us to arrive in Istanbul in the best conditions”, explained Puig, who will be in European indoor championshipalong with the 400m specialists who fine-tuned their settings in Expourense, the national champion Oscar HusillosIñaki Cañal, Manuel Guijarro, Lucas Búa, David García Zurita and Markel Fernández.

Coach Gandía was accompanied in Ourense by another RFEA coach, Bernardo Domínguez and physiotherapist Dositeo Pena. He was very satisfied with the facilities they had both in Expourense and in the rest of the city, and they settled in a central hotel: “We already knew the track because we were here for two Spanish championships. It is one of the best in the country and an ideal place to carry out preparatory work, with a view of the highest level events”.

Regarding the future plans of the federation, Toni does not say anything, since “next year will be Olympic and that changes the circumstances of the preparation of athletes, but it would not be surprising if Ourense hosts more such concentrations”.

In this sense, the aforementioned Mario González warned that the track’s potential and its functionality are characteristics highly valued by the technicians: “As long as they are happy here, we are proud to make things easier for them, and this group in particular leaves happy”. He added that other local institutions cooperated with the Xunta de Galicia organization to make the athletes comfortable during their stay in the city: “They were able to perform a very complete program. In addition to training on the track, they also worked hard in the gym Paco Peace Castle and also participated in the session at Os Remedios athletic module». Now in Turkey, only the icing on the medals is missing. Fingers crossed.