Arturo Casado fulfils his dream – European Athletics (EAA) – News

When Spain’s Arturo Casado crossed the finish line in the men’s 1500m final at the European Athletics Championships on 30th July, the 27-year-old-ace completed a unique hat-trick of European medals in different age categories.

He had proven his credentials as a junior athlete taking the bronze medal at the European Athletics Junior Championships in Grosseto (Italy) back in 2001 and four years later he became an overwhelming champion at the European Athletics U-23 Championships held in Erfurt (Germany).

In 2005, the Spanish 1500m specialist made a sensational breakthrough on the senior circuit taking an unexpected fifth place at the world championships in Helsinki aged only 22.

In addition to these accolades, Casado captured bronze when Spain managed an unforgettable clean sweep of medals at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham 2007.

An elated Casado reflected on the reasons behind his success in Barcelona, four-years after coming tantalizingly close to a podium finish in Göteborg 2006.

“In the last five seasons, before 2010 (2005-2009), I had competed at all the major championships, two per year, one indoors and one outdoors. And when I failed to progress beyond the first round at the world championships in Berlin last year, I realised I needed a rest. It was not a matter of physical fitness, I was simply overloaded and decided to skip the world indoors in Doha to refresh my mind and prepare for the Europeans on the home soil of Barcelona full of energy,” said Cassado.

From Spanish silver to European gold

Even after finishing ‘only’ second at the Spanish championships behind Barcelona bronze medallist Manuel Olmedo, Casado’s win at the Europeans was among the most convincing ones at the championships.  With 200m to go, he edged ahead of the pack to build a massive margin of nearly a second (3:42.74 v 3:43.52) over his closest competitor, Germany’s Carsten Schlangen.

“Everyone knows that there is a very high standard in the 1500m in my country so if you make it to the Spanish team for the major event you have already completed much of the task.”

To strengthen Casado’s words, it should be mentioned that his fellow Spaniards Diego Ruiz, the European indoor silver medallist and Juan Carlos Higuero, the European bronze medallist in Göteborg, could not compete in Barcelona despite ranking fourth and fifth respectively on the European 1500m season’s list as both failed to make it to the podium at the National championships held two weeks before the European championships.

Finally, the Spanish triumvirate of Casado, Manuel Olmedo and Reyes Estévez made a remarkable 1-3-4 for the host nation.

“I always dreamt of a win but I was sure that, in a tactical race, it will be a photo-finish final.  I was surprised that I managed a sizeable margin on the rest over the homestretch. But I never looked back and was not aware of my clear advantage. The only thing I thought was: “they are going to catch me any time but luckily it didn’t happen” added Casado, who became the third Spaniard to win the European 1500m gold following in the footsteps of Fermín Cacho (1994) and Reyes Estévez (1998).

Tenacity his key asset

His 2008 personal best of 3:33.14 for the 1500m might seem far from what will be required to put him in medal contention at the world level but what works in Casado’s  favour is his tenacity.

The prodigiously talented Spaniard has never worried about his time. “My primary goal are the major championships and my build-up will always be 100% focused on performing as good as possible on such occasions rather than running fast times throughout the season. For instance, at the Europeans junior in Grosseto I was only ranked fifth among the competitors but I took the bronze medal and still led the race with 30m to go.”

However, Casado is confident of lowering his career best over the next weeks: “I’ll compete several times till the end of the season and I think a time in the 3:30-3:31 region is well inside my capabilities. I also look forward to representing Europe at the IAAF Continental Cup to be held in Split early next month”.

Worth his weight

In the near future, Casado could well re-write the history of the 1500m… in physical terms at least! He is quite tall (1.87m) but that height is not uncommon in his specialist event. What is definitely noticeable is his weight as he explains: “at the beginning of the season my weight is roughly around 82 kg; then, when the indoor campaign approaches its pinnacle in March it usually goes down to 80kg and only at my peak during the summer does my weight decrease below the 80 kg barrier; my ideal weight in top form is around 78kg.”

A close look at the statistics of the greatest middle distance athletes in history reveals that Casado is much heavier than all his illustrious predecessors in the world 1500m elite. Not even the tallest milers such as Britain’s Steve Cram (1.86m/69k) or United State’s Steve Scott (1.86/73) match Casado’s weight, and only Somalia’s World 1987 champion Abdi Bile (1.85/75) comes anywhere close to Casado’s figures.

“It’s true that the 800m is more likely the event that suits my body type but my coach Arturo Martín realised from my early days in athletics that I had reasonable stamina and I focused my career towards the 1500m and that plan has paid off. Endurance work is not a problem for me and my coach often schedules quite a few weeks of up to 160 kilometres in November and December so my training in winter is very much like that of a distance runner.”

European Athletics (EAA) – News