Team Europe: Casado, Kowal and Baddeley lead men's 1500m charge

Besides Europe, three other continental teams: Americas (NACAC and CONSUDATLE), Africa and Asia/Pacific (Asia and Oceania), will lay claim to the title of “Continental Champion.”

Today, in two parts, we run the rule over Team Europe’s male middle distance runners.

Spaniard Arturo Casado crosses the finish line during the men's 1500m final in Barcelona

1500m:

Arturo Casado (ESP)

Born: 26.1.1983
Height: 187 cm
Weight: 78 kg
Team/club: C.A. Adidas

Major championships record:
World Championships: 1500m: 5/2005, 7/2007
European Athletics Championships:  1500m: 1/2010, 6/2004
World Indoor Championships:  1500m: 4/2008
European Athletics Indoor Championships:  1500m: 4/2005, 3/2007, 5/2009

Personal bests: 800m: 1:45.52 (2009), 1500m: 3:33.14 (2008)
Season’s best: 3:35.02 Barcelona 9.7.10

Fully determined to improve on his fourth place from Göteborg 2006, Spain’s Arturo Casado crossed the finish line first in the men’s 1500m at the European championships to complete a hat-trick of European medals in different age categories.  He already had a successful junior pedigree, having taken the European bronze medal in Grosseto, Italy, back in 2001; four years later he was an overwhelming champion at the European under-23 championships held in Erfurt, Germany.

Even after finishing second at the Spanish championships behind Barcelona bronze medallist Manuel Olmedo, Casado’s win at this year’s Europeans can count among the most convincing ones at the championships. It was with some 200m to go that he edged ahead to build a massive margin of nearly a second (3:42.74 v 3:43.52) over his closest competitor, Germany’s Carsten Schlangen.

“I always dreamt of a win but I was sure that, in a tactical race, it will be a photo-finish final so I’m surprised that I managed a sizeable margin on the rest over the home stretch. But I never looked back and was not aware of my clear advantage. The only thing I thought was ‘they are going to catch up with me at any time’ but luckily it didn’t happen,” he said.

Casado is the third Spaniard to become European 1500m champion following in the footsteps of Fermín Cacho (1994) and Reyes Estévez (1998). He had already shown a lot of ability at the age of 22 by taking an unexpected fifth place at the World Championships in Helsinki. In addition to these accolades, Casado captured bronze when Spain managed an unforgettable clean sweep of medals at the European indoor championships in Birmingham 2007.

Andy Baddeley (GBR)

Born: 20.6.1982
Height: 186 cm
Weight: 69 kg 
Team/club: Harrow/Cambridge Uni

Major championships record:
Olympic Games: 1500m: 8/2008
World Championships: 1500m: 9/2007
European Athletics Championships: 1500m: 6/2010:
European Cup:  3000m:  1/2008

Personal bests: 800m: 1:46.32 (2007)   1500m: 3:34.36 (2008)   Mile: 3:49.38 (2008)
Season’s best: 3:34.50 Gateshead 10.7.10

Andy Baddeley established himself as Britain’s top miler in 2006 and has been a stalwart in major championships finals since his breakthrough at the Göteborg European championships where he finished sixth.

Baddeley made great headway in the summer of 2007, beating the likes of Bernard Lagat in Sheffield, before making the world final in Osaka.

He was in the form of his life in 2008 as he took an unexpected win in the famous Dream Mile race in Oslo – the first by a British athlete since Peter Elliott in 1991 – before winning the European Cup over 3000m, but an Achilles injury wrecked his medal chances in the Olympic Games final, when he finished ninth.

Despite suffering from injury in the lead up to the Berlin worlds the following season Baddeley qualified for the semi-finals. However an untimely foot injury necessitated him being on crutches 24 hour before his semi-final. Baddeley courageously ran the semi-final on a pain-killing injection, but expectedly ran well below his potential.

After Berlin his form picked up and he had good runs in the Gateshead GP, Rieti, BUPA 5km road race in Regents Park and the Great North City Games road mile, and finished his season in style by winning the prestigious Fifth Avenue Mile in New York.

Baddeley runs with an electrocardiogram in his chest because of an irregular heartbeat. He has a first-class honours degree from Cambridge University in aerospace engineering and used to be a part-time lecturer at St. Mary’s.

Yoann Kowal (FRA)

Born: 28.5.1987
Height: 172 cm
Weight: 58 kg
Team/club: Ca Perigueux Athletisme

Major championships record:
World Championships: 1500m: 8h3/2009
European Championships in Athletics:  1500m: 5/2010
European Athletics Indoor Championships: 1500m: 3/2009
European Athletics U23 Championships: 3000m steeplechase: 11/2007

Personal bests: 800m: 1:47.95 (2010), 1500m: 3:35.14 (2010)
Season’s best: 3:35.14 Roma 10.6.10

France’s Yohann Kowal missed the 1500m bronze medal at the Europeans in Barcelona by a mere eleven hundredths of a second but aged only 23 he should be one of the leading athletes at the continental level in the years to come.

Kowal’s father Daniel became French champion in the 3000m steeplechase, and by the early age of 4 Yoann began to practise athletics in Font Romeu. Mehdi Baala’s inspired silver medal win at the 2003 World Championships in Paris had a major impact on Kowal, who witnessed his compatriot’s exploits from the stands.

After contesting the 3000m steeplechase at the world juniors in Beijing 2006 and the European U23 championships in Debrecen the following year Kowal turned to the 1500m event and his decision soon paid dividends as he managed to run inside the qualifying time for both the 2008 world indoors in Valencia and the Beijing Olympics.  Although he could not make it to the French team on both the occasions, Kowal did not give up and registered a massive career best of 3:35.95 in Paris.

Kowal’s breaktrough in terms of major events came the following winter when he bagged the bronze medal at the European indoor championships in Torino behind Portugal’s former Olympic bronze medallist Rui Silva and Spain’s Diego Ruiz.

Rather surprisingly, the 23-year-old Kowal is not a full-time athlete as he works as a carpenter 28 hours a week.