5th June 2012 11:46
 |
| Spain's Marta Dominguez will run her first race on the track since winning the silver medal over the barriers at the 2010 European Athletics Championships in Huelva on Thursday. |
The Spanish record holder for the event at 9:07.32, which places her fourth on the European all-time rankings for the event, aims to clock can Olympic A standard of 9:43.00 at the VIII Meeting Iberoamericano, which should also help book her ticket to the 2012 European Athletics Championships.
Domínguez's biggest rival could be German record holder Antje Möldner, who is back in shape this summer after recovering from a serious lymphoid cell disorder which caused her to miss the whole of the 2010 season.
A very strong Spain team is expected to travel to Helsinki later this month as the Spanish athletics federation has said that if an athlete gets a medal, the first two home in any event will be automatically selected for the Olympics, which provides a great incentive for the country's best athletes to be in the Finnish capital.
Another highlight of the Huelva meeting will be the men's 1500m, another traditional strength of Spanish athletics.
On the start line will be Diego Ruiz, lvaro Rodríguez, Manuel Olmedo, Javier Abad, Juan Carlos Higuero, lvaro Fernández and 2009 European junior champion David Bustos, who have all run under 3:38.00 since July last year.
The current rising star is Rodríguez, who ran a personal best of 3:34.10 in Hengelo just over a week ago and he is the second fastest European this year.
However, all eyes will be looking at Olmedo, the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships 1500m gold medallist, who has been consistently the best Spaniard over the distance since the start of last year.
Two Spaniards better known for their prowess over two laps of the track, former European 800m junior champion Kevin López and Luis Alberto Marco, will also be testing their stamina over the longer distance.
However, despite the absence of López and Marco, the men's 800m can boast of some top local talent with the in-form Spanish record holder Antonio Reina and 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships silver medallist Miguel Quesada up against the Netherlands' Robert Lathouwers and Germany's Soren Ludolph.
The latter pair have already run 1:44.61 and 1:44.80 respectively this year for third and sixth on the 2012 European rankings.
The men's 3000m steeplechase sees Finland's Jukka Keskisalo, the 2006 European champion, on the start line alongside his predecessor from 2002, Antonio 'Penti' Jiménez but looking to defeat the two continental champions will be the current Spanish champion Tomás Tajadura and the 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships silver medallist Abdelaziz Merzoughi.