Reigning European indoor 3000m champion Adel Mechaal will make his debut over 25 laps at the European 10,000m Cup in London on 19 May.
Mechaal, who was fourth in the 1500m at the IAAF World Championships last summer, has aspirations of contesting both the 5000m and 10,000m at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships. He will be looking to secure the qualifying time of 28:55.00 but he also forms part of a strong Spanish team which will be looking for their tenth team title since 1997.
The Spanish team dominated proceedings in Minsk twelve months ago, taking a clean sweep of the medals and the team title with it. Antonio Abadia won the individual title in hot conditions in the Belarusian capital last year and he will return to defend his individual title.
Another standout member of the Spanish team is Juan Perez, the runner-up at the European 10,000m Cup in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
The women’s team is led by Nuria Lugueros who made a good start to her track season with a 32:52.89 PB at the Spanish Championships, comfortably inside the Berlin 2018 qualifying standard of 33:20.00.
Like Mechaal, Ana Lozano will also be making her 10,000m debut in London. She finished sixth in a very competitive 3000m final at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March and won the 5000m at the European Team Championships in Lille.