04.10.2020
13:08
The Mexican was one of the more than 40 athletes who participated in the test, which concluded with a time of 2 h 11'32 ″
October 4, 2020 Share on FacebookShare Share on TwitterTweet Share on WhatsAppShare
(AP)
The Mexican Juan Luis Barrios finished in place 16 in the London Marathon , with a time of 2 h11'32 ″.
The long distance runner was seven hundredths away from registering the minimum mark for the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021 , which is 2h 11'30 ″. Meanwhile, his best mark in his career was set in the Tokyo Marathon with 2h 10'55 ″.
Barrios was one of the more than 40 athletes who participated in the marathon in the British capital , the event was reduced to the elite category due to the contingency, in addition, that it was changed of date, because it is regularly held in April.
In order to participate in the test, the Mexican had to undergo two COVID-19 tests , one before leaving Mexico and another when arriving in London, which were part of the rules to mitigate the number of infections.
Juan Luis Barrios was one of the 40 athletes who participated in the London Marathon, in which only elite athletes competed (Photo: Twitter @juanlbarrios)
The goal of the Mexican long distance runner in 2020 was to qualify to participate in the Tokyo 2020 marathon test, but before the cancellation of events to qualify for the Olympic Games and, later, the Mexican Federation of Athletics Associations selected the athletes who will participate in said test in the men's branch , the representatives are: José Luis Santana Marín; Juan Joel Pacheco Orozco and Jesús Arturo Esparza Pérez, who gave the minimum mark prior to the contingency.
And the only reason why some of the athletes did not get to participate in the joust is because they are not in shape, due to injury or because they voluntarily withdraw.
Juan Luis told El Heraldo at the end of August that ” in March they were still thinking about qualifying for Tokyo 2020. Today what I'm looking for is to continue running , work constantly and disciplined, enjoying this stage of my life.”
Shura Kitata wins the London Marathon
The rain and the cold marked the evolution of a London Marathon that ended up in a tight sprint at the hands of the Ethiopian Shura Kitata, after the abdication of four-time champion Eliud Kipchoge , who could not adapt to the harsh conditions and was sank down the stretch
Shura Kitata won the 2020 London Marathon (Photo: Reuters / Richard Heathcote)
The loss of Kenenisa Bekele just two days before the race, due to an injury to a calf, left Kipchoge as a great favorite for the final triumph, but the Kenyan could not meet expectations and after being threatened the entire race, unable to leave to his pursuers behind, he yielded the throne down the stretch.
The race, which without the pandemic would have been held in April, took place this Sunday in 19 laps around St. James Park.
The rainfall caused the athletes to take extra precautions when cornering and this was noticeable with times far removed from the records of other years. Kipchoge, along with the leading group, reached the middle of the race in a time of 1:02:54, which practically already made it clear that the world record that he achieved in Berlin in 2018 would not be exceeded.
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