Belén Toimil enters a new dimension
There are moments that change the life of an athlete. TO Bethlehem Toimil It happened this Thursday at around seven twenty in the afternoon in Torun (Poland). In the launch that was its premiere in a great international championship, Mugardos discovered something similar to perfection, to the execution dreamed of. The four-kilo ball flew for two seconds and bounced well beyond the 18-meter line. Toimil's gestures of joy mixed with disbelief gave an idea of what had just happened. The Galician, who had been re-caught a few days ago as she had not been able to achieve the minimum, arrived in Torun with the hope of ending the Spanish record that the Asturian Martina de la Puente had for twenty-five years. At eight centimeters he had stayed a few weeks ago, one of those distances that seem ridiculous at first glance but that in athletics take months of work.
But this Thursday was entering a new dimension, on the planet of the best pitchers on the continent because with the astonishing 18.64 meter mark Belén Toimil took a bite of seventy centimeters into the Spanish indoor record and easily surpassed the absolute record that Ursula Ruiz had in the open air with 18 , 28 meters. The madness. Hence his gestures, his irrepressible joy, his perplexity.
A impressive shot that helped him get into the final this afternoon (It starts at 7:00 p.m.) and, incidentally, to achieve the minimum for the Tokyo Olympics. It was another of the illusions I had in the 2021 outdoor season. But everything has come too fast. The reward for the work he has done in León with Carlos Burón (the man who trained a national weight legend like Manolo Martínez) by putting aside the linear throw to go to the rotary, which requires more coordination, more strength, more work. The mission has taken them just under two years. It has meant improving technique, working on strength in a different way and changing a series of habits to lose almost twenty kilos. A complete transformation for the person and for the athlete. Pitcher and coach accelerated the deadlines with the idea of reaching Tokyo and felt close to the goal, but did not imagine how close. Burón was surely more conscientious than Toimil. The one from Mugardos has commented that in León she was convinced that on some occasion she had been able to shoot very far, but that they did not measure the shots there. Burón sees the weight drop and gets an idea of the brand without abusing the information for his disciple. Yesterday the measurement was an event for Spanish sport.
This afternoon Toimil will be in the final. In yesterday's qualifying she achieved with that single launch the third mark of the finalists, only behind the German Christina Schwanitz, who made 18.86, and the Belarusian Aliona Dubitskaya (18.74). The question is whether he will be able to repeat a similar launch because in that case we would be facing another option that would be to be on the podium. Unimaginable everything.
With her usual joy, Toimil later explained in the mixed zone that "I'm freaking out, happy because I knew I could do 18 meters. I don't want to get too crazy because tomorrow is the final. Olympic minimum, Spanish record, I'm processing everything that has last ... It's my first international tournament in three years because I broke my knee, then COVID came, I was already very excited just to be here, "she explained. "I was happy and calm to launch. The work pays off, let's see if I can be in the same state of mind in the final and hit a jackpot. I don't know what happened in the circle. I was not nervous, but relaxed and everything was very easy. Finally a good result since I started with the rotating technique, a year and a half ago, "he added, still smiling.
The Celtic Finot, at the final of the 3,000 meters
Vigo's athletics will have a representative at the final of the 3,000 meters for women. French athlete Alice Finot, a member of Celta de athletics, qualified for the final this afternoon (9:00 pm) after qualifying in the qualifying rounds at the position. The French, a regular at Castrelos and Balaídos where she trains under Manuel Martínez Ageitos, was sixth in the first series with a time of 8: 57.28, which was the tenth fastest time of the twelve classified). But the disqualification of two of the finalists makes him even improve in that relationship.
