Alejandro Ríos: from world bronze to Princesa de Girona finalist

Alejandro Ríos Galindo won bronze in the 800 metres at the World U20 Championships in Oregon in 1:46.25. The result of the final was published on 9 August 2026. Months later, on 5 November, it was announced that the athlete from Puertollano was a finalist for the Princesa de Girona award recognising the values of young athletes.

The runner, coached by Antonio Serrano and Spanish champion over the distance, won Spain’s first medal of the championships in Oregon. His club, #MarcaPuertollano, where he had developed as an athlete, celebrated his achievement.

A comeback in the final 200 metres

After a fast opening 400 metres, Ríos stayed in the middle of the pack and began to gain ground. He entered the final 200 metres in fifth place and moved up to fourth before reaching the final 100 metres.

The decisive move came in the final 50 metres, when he overtook a Slovenian athlete to take third place. Alejandro Muñoz also competed in the final, initially staying close behind Ríos.

• Alejandro Muñoz: seventh, in 1:50.20.

Personal best and a precedent in Santiago de Chile

His time in the final was a new personal best for Ríos, who had run 1:46.66 in the semi-finals. The Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA) ranked his time in the final as the third-fastest Spanish time of all time.

In both rounds, he improved on the fastest time by a Spanish athlete at the World U20 Championships, which had stood for 24 years, according to the RFEA. His medal was Spain’s second bronze in the 800 metres at the competition: Antonio Manuel Reina had won the previous one in Santiago de Chile in 2000.

Relay record and other Spanish performances

The morning session on the fourth day saw a Spanish U20 record in the heats of the women’s 4×100 metres relay. María Portela, Celia Cortés, Marina Delgado and Carla Aguirre ran 44.54, finishing third in their heat and qualifying for the final.

The previous record was 44.66, set in 2019 by Elena Daniel, María Vicente, Jael-Sakura Bestué and Aitana Rodrigo. In the triple jump, Ana Estrella de León and Naida Calonge qualified for the final, which, according to the RFEA, was set to be the first World U20 Championships triple jump final to feature two Spanish women.

De León, a bronze medallist at the senior championships in Málaga, produced the fourth-best jump in qualifying, with 13.33 metres. Calonge, the Spanish senior champion, was sixth with 13.16 metres.

In the 5,000 metres race walk finals, Gina Torres and César Hidalgo improved their personal bests and both moved up to eighth on the Spanish all-time list in their respective events. These were the placings and results of the Spanish athletes in those finals and in the 400 metres hurdles semi-finals:

• Gina Torres: seventh in the women’s race walk, in 22:13.20.
• Irene Vega: twenty-third in the women’s race walk, in 23.36.85 according to the RFEA transcription.
• César Hidalgo: eleventh in the men’s race walk, in 19:47.58.
• Pablo Zárate: fifteenth in the men’s race walk, in 20:08.73.
• Alex Ibáñez: sixth in the first 400 metres hurdles semi-final, in 50.95, after hitting the final hurdle.
• Diego Espeso: seventh in the third 400 metres hurdles semi-final, in 51.29, missing out on the final.

Both Spanish 4×400 metres teams missed out on the final. Rocío Navarro, Ana Alba Ruiz, Carla Rodríguez and Alaine Aguerralde were sixth in their heat in 3:38.70; Alejandro Núñez, Aaron Gastón, Óscar Crespo and Pablo Rojo finished fifth in theirs in 3:09.17.

Six finalists for the Princesa de Girona award

Ríos is a candidate in the second edition of the award, run by the Fundación Princesa de Girona in partnership with the Confederación de Uniones de Federaciones Deportivas de España (CUFADE). The Values Committee selected six finalists, three women and three men.

Alongside the runner are Galician para flatwater canoeist Nicolás Martínez Adega and snowboarder Ignacio Solé Bahima from Barcelona. The female finalists are Asturian canoeist Lucía Val Cerceira, artistic swimmer Martina Medina Mondéjar from the Canary Islands and para skier Iraide Rodríguez Mata from Madrid.

The initiative recognises athletes aged 16 to 23 who, in the organisers’ words, “beyond their competitive results, stand out for their exemplary conduct, effort, resilience, ability to overcome challenges and social commitment”. The awards gala is scheduled to take place in Girona in the second half of December 2026.