No one went to Miguel Baidal (Cárnicas Serrano) and told him they didn’t trust him anymore, but the Alicante athlete had been realizing this for months. Although his priority was triathlon now, he felt that it was not the 17-year-old who surprised everyone by winning the Spanish Cross Country Championships. promised him athletics. And besides feeling a bit left out, it has been very difficult months as he has suffered two injuries in a row and combined education and engineering studies on top of that. For this reason, She burst into tears of emotion when she first crossed the finish line of the 5,000m final of the Spanish U-23 Championship in Santander. and happiness. Baidal finally became champion of Spain once again, three years and four months after this victory at Cáceres.
Baidal has already returned to Alicante and just finished a video call with a teacher because he will take advantage of the summer to take a lesson from next year. This 21-year-old student from Alicante biomedical engineering and goes to the course a year. He will start fourth in September and hopes to finish the race next summer.
Victory on the Ruth Beitia track and field in Santander was not just against chance, but also thanks to an outstanding comeback in the last stretch, where his opponents subdued him when he staggered as a result of three sports. However, this time it was the other way around, and Baidal, who wanted to take the podium but thought that the gold belonged to Adam Maijó – came third – surprised all his opponents for the championship.
Still under 23 ahead of him, Baidal remembers his past in the sport. “Four years ago, I signed up for Club Atletisme Crevillent so I could choose to be a high-performance athlete and get help getting into college. In the end we came second in Spain by clubs and I won. The following year I became the champion of Spain in sub’20 cross. That didn’t change me, but it did make me see that I have another option besides triathlon. The pandemic started in 2020 and in the first month, I decided to switch, to quit triathlon mid-season. I have had time to think and realize that the race is a priority for me too and that triathlon takes up a lot more of my hours.. That’s why I chose to focus on athletics.”
Many days, Baidal was doing sets in the pool at 10 PM. Until one day I realize that this is not the best thing for such a young boy. Some chose to drop out of school and become a triathlon professional, but he wanted to be an engineer as well as winning a gold medal. “The triathlon forced me to spend a few hours that I didn’t have. It is also a sport where you can finish first one day and twentieth the next day. No matter how fit you are, there are many transitions and thousands of factors you can’t control. And in the end, you spend too many hours for the impact and the money you get.
It also affected that swimming cost him a lot. And his favorite sport is the bike – he’s been to the Pyrenees for a few years to see some stages of the Tour – but what he does best is running. Despite his later appearance on the track, he was seen as tactically inept and slower than the others due to his inexperience on the final lap.
Luck didn’t smile at him either. He decided to focus on athletics and was injured. The change had a price, and it paid off as soon as he increased his mileage each week. He suffered from bone edema in his foot in the summer of 2021. His recovery cost him dearly, and as soon as he did, he fell again. “In January and February I suffered from inflammation in the adductor and quadriceps area. It made me very bloated when I ran »
However, the Cárnicas Serrano athlete managed to overcome all obstacles and was able to start training properly in March. On July 3, one week before the Spanish Championship, Gandía was declared autonomous champion of the Community of Valencia at 1,500 (3:47.06). He looked fast and instead of resting in the afternoon, he did a series of 200. Two moments that made her regain her faith in herself.
Seven days later he went to Santander and discovered that yes, he was already a long-distance runner with a much better finish. “I changed my mindset and in the final I already did the last 400 in 57 or 58 seconds. I was excited when I saw him enter first. I remembered everything that happened, injuries, loss of self-confidence, the difficulties of getting into a race… And all the emotions came out».
Although in reality, she was championed by hair. On his return from Santander he began to experience a dry throat and some discomfort. He took a test and the covid test was positive. “I didn’t spend it in the pandemic and now I have it. I hope I don’t blame him too much because I’ve seen how much pain athletes like Andreu Blanes have suffered and it’s a terrible thing.”
This result, this victory in the Spanish U23 Championship, Restores all confidence and motivation. Him and his coach, Adrian Peris. “It helped me a lot. I don’t have a big group to train. I’m one of the first athletes and I’m just joining Moha Reda and my old triathlon friends by the way, who I ride with on days when I’m not training. Young coaches also deserve to have a chance or never make a name for themselves. Adrián He’s up to date with the latest innovations and new training methodologies and I think it’s very good. Next year I will be under 23 again, and finally I will be a European that I plan to risk everything, “says the representative of Cárnicas Serrano.