He bottle flip challenge, he fidget spinner or the dabThese were some of the trends that emerged ten years ago. It's still unclear why they lasted so long. Now we're talking about avocado toast, açaí, and runningAlthough this last point has been present in Catalonia for longer than people might think. Just ask Celia Balcells, who started running as hobby And now she does it professionally. "At first, I'd run five or ten kilometers and end up completely exhausted. There was a climb that I now do in two seconds, and back then it seemed impossible. However, it was very satisfying," she recalls. "This was the last year before going to university. When I went to study in Lleida, even though there aren't many mountains there, we went running every day. That's when I met Arnau Cases, who introduced me to the world of performance and..." trail running "He was involved with the Catalan national team and explained to me what I had to do to get there. From then on, I started running more seriously," he explains.

The Barcelona Half Marathon filled the city streets with over 36,000 runners, a record turnout for the event, which is celebrating its 37th edition and remains strong. The men's race was won by Ethiopian Hagos Gebrhiwet with a time of 58 minutes and 5 seconds, while the women's race was won by Kenyan Loice Chemnung, who set a new course record of 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 1 second. Chemnung was the star of the day, establishing the new Barcelona course record by surpassing the mark of her compatriot Joyciline Jepkosgei, whose time of 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 13 seconds was achieved a year ago. Chemnung improved her personal best and achieved the sixth fastest time ever recorded in the women's category. American Weini Kelati finished second (1:06:03), and Ethiopian Diniya Abaraya came in third. In the men's category, Hagos Gebrhiwet established a strong lead from the start, setting a pace that suggested he could approach the all-time best, as he was running at a similar speed to the world record. Ultimately, he couldn't maintain the high pace he had set, but he won convincingly ahead of Switzerland's Dominic Lobalu (59:25) and France's Emmanuel Roudolff (59:35). The race was marked by the debate surrounding the milestone achieved by Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo a year ago, when he broke the world record with a time of 56:40. However, just a few days ago, World Athletics, the governing body for athletics, announced that it had decided not to validate the mark, considering that Kiplimo benefited from the presence of a vehicle, as he ran behind it for a while. Thus, it was decided that the time remains official as the best of the Barcelona event but is not considered a world record. A decision that Barcelona City Council's Sports Councillor, David Escudé, describes as "difficult to understand." "We will fight to change this decision. Barcelona City Council will go all the way. We understand absolutely nothing: neither the delay, nor the result, nor the lack of information, nor the fact that the best time is recognized but not the record," says Escudé, who hinted that pressure from those in charge of the Half Marathon, which Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha had achieved in 2024 in Valencia with a time of 57 minutes and 30 seconds, was behind this decision.

There are plays that can change your life. There are also moments when you have to make important decisions that shape your path. Salma Paralluelo (Zaragoza, 2003) had to choose between football and athletics when she was just 18. After three seasons combining both sports professionally at Villarreal, in the summer of 2022 she received a call from Barça. It was months after scoring a goal at the Johan Cruyff Stadium that earned her a Puskás Award nomination. An offer to play for one of the best teams in the world, but one that would require her to give up athletics. "I excelled at both sports," explains Diego Manero, the Villarreal physiotherapist who worked with her during her anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Paul McGrath Benito (Gavà, 2002) became the first Catalan to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships in 14 years thanks to his bronze in the final of the 20 km walk to Tokyo. The son of two teachers, his mother from Gavà and his father from Glasgow, he studies journalism, dreams of the Los Angeles Games, and passionately defends a sport, walking, that is not always understood.

No Catalan athlete has ever run at the speed of Jaël-Sakura Bestué Ferrera (Barcelona, ​​2000). The athlete trained at the Muntanyenc Club in Sant Cugat del Vallès is having the best year of her sporting career, reminiscing and dreaming of standing on the podium at the World Championships in Tokyo. A few months ago, she achieved the Spanish record for the 200 meters in athletics at the European Championships, a mark she had not surpassed for 35 years. The previous record was held by Sandra Myers in 1990. Jaël's time of 22.19 seconds was the best time for a European athlete of the year. A time that would have given her a medal in the 200 meters at the Tokyo Games. She is also part of the 4x100m relay team, which has a chance of winning a medal. The Spanish relay team arrives with the fourth best time at the World Championships. And she, with the ninth-fastest time in the 200 meters, will be aiming for the final this Thursday.

The World Athletics Championships in Tokyo continue to inspire excitement in a stadium that four years ago hosted a sad, spectator-less Olympic Games. A stadium where Mondo Duplantis quietly won his first Olympic gold. Now the Swede, a true sports rock star, has managed to break a new world record in front of a devoted crowd. The pole vaulter has won gold for the third time at the World Athletics Championships, surpassing his own world record with 6.30 meters on his third and final attempt. The silver medal went to Greek Emmanouil Karalis—who had a brilliant competition that forced Duplantis to jump more than expected—and the bronze went to Australian Kurtis Marschall (5.95 meters), a personal best.

Barça is more than just a club. That's what its motto says, and that's what it tries to convey through its sections. But beyond basketball, handball, indoor soccer, and roller hockey, there are the amateur sections. One of these disciplines in which the Blaugrana team triumphs is athletics. At the last Spanish Championships, held at the beginning of August in Tarragona, the Catalan club won a total of four medals: Héctor Santos (gold in the long jump), Bernat Erta (gold in the 400 meters), Carmen Rosales (bronze in the long jump), and Pablo Sánchez-Valladares (bronze). These medals, beyond their sporting prowess, hide stories of overcoming challenges.

A few days ago, Tarragona hosted the Spanish Athletics Championships. It seemed like a normal championship, like any other, but the schedule for the 20 women participating was somewhat different from other editions. Before their debut, they had to go through a room at the Natalia Rodríguez track at the Campclar complex. There, doctors from the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation were waiting for them to perform a short test: they had to swipe a stick inside their mouths for a few seconds to obtain a saliva sample, which was then sent to a laboratory. Easier than testing in the time of COVID-19. The reason? To determine if these athletes can compete as women.

In an alleyway off an industrial estate in Sant Boi, we find the Josep Giménez Boilermaking Company, a family business. Josep, originally from El Prat de Llobregat, is the father of three siblings committed to the business and linked to the world of sports. The athlete from El Prat noticed the warehouse that would become the current family business during a spontaneous run in the area. In the larger office, a multitude of trophies certify an individual average of 100 half marathons, 10 marathons, and other sporting achievements achieved by father and daughter, both passionate about athletics. The office is too small for them, and consequently, they have boxes full of more awards at home.

One of Barcelona's most iconic races arrives this Sunday, May 11th, thanks to El Corte Inglés. There are 40,000 registered participants, up from 30,000 last year, and a now familiar route that will cross the city from Diagonal to Plaça Catalunya. This 45th edition will donate the funds raised to the Xana Foundation.

Anna Comet (Girona, 1983) greets some mothers from her eldest son's school while we take her photographs for this interview in the center of Vic. She lives very close by, in Guixa. She has been a resident of Osona for years. Trained as a skier, she has been shining as a cross-country athlete for years. trail running with success in races on Everest and the Sahara. He has also earned two degrees, written books, and writes articles like those published in the ARAA few weeks ago, she received a call informing her that the Union of Sports Federations of Catalonia (UFEC) had awarded her for her personal and professional goals. It proves that you can compete at the highest level while being a mother. In fact, she became a mother for the second time just a few weeks ago.

Valentí Sanjuan (Tordera, 1981) lives for sport. With millions of followers on social networks, faces challenges by adding kilometers to his legs. Now he has set himself a very ambitious challenge: from February 18 to 22 he wants to run five marathons on five different continents, in five days, traveling on commercial flights, against the clock.

"Women do better in sports, because the progression is better". It's that clear. For Jaume Nualart, this conclusion is clear after carrying out a study on the evolution of world records in athletics. "If we look at the progression, in most disciplines women have lowered their records more than men. Sometimes even twice as much", analyses Nualart, PhD, researcher and teacher. Despite entering the Olympic world much later, women have managed to improve their records dramatically. They have practically cut twice as many seconds off the stopwatch in half the time. At the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where athletics has just begun, the marks are trembling before the great athletes, both men and women, who have their sights set on setting a new milestone.