“I’m still amazed when I see my face in As”. That’s what Pereza sang in the song Princesas and that’s what Paul McGrath (Barcelona, 2002) still thinks. The Catalan athlete won his first gold medal on Saturday at the European Race Walking Half Marathon Championship in Birmingham. At just 24 years old, it’s his third medal after the European silver achieved in Rome (2024) and the world bronze in Tokyo (2025). “Suddenly I find myself here. In three years, I’ve been to the Olympics and won world and European medals. It’s a bit scary, but I had always dreamed of this and it motivates me immensely to continue,” he confesses to ARA.

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.