Abel Antón

Abel Antón
Abel Antón 2008 at the Madrid Book Fair
Full name	Abel Antón Rodrigo
nation	Spain
birthday	October 24, 1962
place of birth	Ojoel
size	179 cm
Weight	62 kg
job	Track and field athlete
Career
discipline	Long distance running
Best performance	13: 15.17 min ( 5000 m ) 27: 51.37 min ( 10,000 m ) 2:07:57 h ( marathon )
status	resigned
End of career	2001
Medal table
World championships 2 × 0 × 0 × European championships 1 × 0 × 1 ×
World championships gold Athens 1997 marathon gold Seville 1999 marathon European championships gold Helsinki 1994 10,000 m bronze Helsinki 1994 5000 m

Abel Antón Rodrigo (born October 24, 1962 in Ojoel , Soria province ) is a former Spanish long-distance runner who was European champion in the 10,000 meter run in 1994 and world champion in marathon running in 1997 and 1999 .

In 1981 he was fifth at the European Junior Championships in the 5000 meter run . After that, it took a few years before he found the connection in the adult class. At the World Athletics Championships in Rome in 1987 , he finished 13th over 5000 meters. In 1988 he reached the semifinals at the Olympic Games in Seoul . In 1989 he won the silver medal over 3000 meters at the European Indoor Championships behind Dieter Baumann . At the European Championships in 1990 Antón finished 11th over 5000 meters, just like at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in 1991 and in Stuttgart in 1993 . At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, ​​he finished eighth.

The 1994 European Championships in Helsinki began on the very first evening with the 10,000 meter run , which was run at a slow pace, so that in the end eight runners sprinted to the finish line within five seconds. Antón won in a personal best of 28: 06.03 minutes ahead of the Belgian Vincent Rousseau and the German Stéphane Franke . The 5000 meter run a week later ended in a similar lane race, in which Antón was third in 13: 38.04 minutes behind Dieter Baumann (13: 36.93 minutes) and Robert Denmark (GBR).

After Antón was eliminated over 10,000 meters at the 1995 World Championships despite his personal best of 27: 51.37 minutes and only finished 13th at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, he switched to the marathon course. He made his debut at the Berlin Marathon in 1996 , which he won in 2:09:15 h. The following year he won the Seoul International Marathon . At the 1997 World Championships in Athens in 2:13:16 h he won the title with a five-second lead over his compatriot, defending champion Martín Fiz , and at the Fukuoka Marathon he was fifth. In 1998 he won the London Marathon in a personal best of 2:07:57 h. In 1999 he finished third in London and defended his title at the World Championships in Seville in 2:13:36 h. At 36 years and 300 days, he was the oldest athletics world champion to date. In 2000 he finished fifth in Seoul and came in 53rd at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. At the end of his career, he finished eighth in the 2001 London Marathon.

Abel Antón is 1.79 m tall and weighed 62 kg at competition times.

Best times

• 3000 m : 7: 46.08 min, July 4th 1987, Oslo
• 5000 m: 13: 15.17 min, August 30, 1994, Berlin
• 10,000 m: 27: 51.37 min, August 5th 1995, Gothenburg
• Half marathon : 1:03:03 h, March 29, 1998, Azpeitia
• Marathon: 2:07:57 h, April 26, 1998, London

Web links

• Abel Antón in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Abel Antón in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )