Spanish runner Marta García won the silver medal in the 5,000 metres at the European Athletics Championships at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.
García crossed the finish line in 15:39.98 to finish behind Italy's Nadia Battocletti, who retained her European title with a winning time of 15:37.84.
The silver medal marks an improvement on the bronze she won at the European Championships in Rome in June 2024. It comes after she set three Spanish national track records within just two years of leaving her medical studies to pursue professional athletics.
Her performance in Birmingham followed a recovery from a lower back injury that forced her to halt training completely in April. The lumbar issue emerged during peak preparation, leaving the runner from Palencia unable to train for weeks as the European Championships approached.
García returned to competition alongside her medical team, revalidating her Spanish national title in Málaga before traveling to England. She acknowledged that when Battocletti accelerated in Birmingham she could not maintain the pace and had to focus on securing silver.
Shift from medicine to high altitude training
Her progress stems from a decision taken at the end of 2022, when she completed her degree in Medicine. Rather than preparing for the MIR, Spain's competitive national exam for medical residency, she chose to dedicate herself entirely to athletics.
Since then, she has trained primarily in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where On Athletics Club Europe has its base. High altitude allows her to build aerobic capacity, a strength her coach, Thomas Dreissigacker, spotted early on. He noted that while she was not a world-class runner initially, her aerobic potential was tremendous from the beginning.
In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País, García described Dreissigacker as a scientist of the sport who works methodically with data, attributing much of her athletic development to his guidance.
Daily training routine and strict dietary regime
García outlined her typical day in the Swiss Alps, explaining that she wakes at 8:00 am and eats breakfast before meeting teammates at 9:30 am on light training days. The team runs around the local lake before returning to complete a gym session.
The routine involves few luxuries, with García doing her own supermarket shopping. Meals follow a strict schedule, with lunch eaten early at 12:00 pm and each athlete cooking their own food.
Her nutrition is as structured as her training. Breakfast combines oatmeal, milk, and toast, which she repeats for an afternoon snack. Her main meal at lunch consists of rice, chicken, salad, and legumes, followed by a simple dinner of rice and chicken.
Between morning and afternoon workouts, García takes a nap lasting 60 to 90 minutes for daily recovery. She also spends up to six weeks at high-altitude training camps in Dullstroom, South Africa, where sleep and nutrition dictate her schedule.
