2016 European 200m champion Bruno Hortelano, the greatest male Spanish sprinter in history, has announced his retirement at the age of 33.
In a post on Instagram, Hortelano wrote: “For those who have followed my athletics career, thank you! After 15 years in international sport, I've hung up my spikes. I'm retiring.
“I started in 2010 representing Spain in the World Junior Championships and from then on, I embarked on a personal journey in search of speed that has allowed me to travel and see the world for a decade and a half.
“It has also allowed me to take a much more meaningful journey, an introspective one, to get to know myself better, in all its beauty and all its pain. My career has seen many successes, each one motivating me to keep fighting, and it has also seen many defeats, from which I tried to learn everything I could to improve.”
Hortelano’s crowning moment came at the 2016 European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam when he won 200m gold after home favourite Churandy Martina was disqualified for a lane infringement to become the first Spaniard to win a European sprint title.
Just weeks after competing at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro where he missed out on a place in the 200m final by two places, Hortelano was involved in a serious car accident, sustaining broken bones and tendons in his right hand.
Hortelano made an inspiring comeback in 2018, setting Spanish records in the 200m (20.04) and 400m (44.69) to sit alongside his Spanish 100m (10.06) and 4x100m (38.46) records. All four records still remain on the Spanish record books some seven years later.
And while Hortelano didn’t add to his individual medal tally, he has been a key part of Spain’s improving men’s 4x400m team, winning bronze at the 2018 European Athletics Championships and silver at the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships.