De la Ossa recovers step by step and dreams of the 10000m race on Montjuïc Mountain

11/03/2010

Juan Carlos de la Ossa is still recovering from his tendon surgery and, although he won’t be competing in the near future, is training every day to arrive at his maximum level soon. Antonio Serrano’s athlete admits that his big aim this year is to compete at the European Athletics Championships Barcelona 2010.

“I have been training well for the past four weeks and am very satisfied, but since last Thursday, I am suffering from a pain in my gluteus, although I hope that it is nothing serious. The tendon problems are gone, or, at least I don’t want to think about it anymore. If everything works out fine I will be back to preparation next week”, assured de la Ossa, who has not been competing for more than a year.

Yesterday he had his gluteus checked, but apparently it won’t cause him any further complaints. “The worst thing about it” – he adds – “is that I was training well at 2.50 per kilometer. Well, I really hope that it will only last for a few days”.

33 years old, De la Ossa thinks about competing at Marathon in the future – in 2007 he debuted over this distance at the London Marathon but withdrew – although at Barcelona 2010 is wants to run the 10000m race. “My first objective is to participate at the Spanish Champs (3 July) to achieve the minimum standard for the Europeans. Earlier I would like to run some smaller races, but we haven’t planned anything yet”.

De la Ossa’s 10000m personal best is 27:27.80 (third best Spanish performance of all time behind Fabián Roncero and José Ríos) and he obtained the Spanish title on two occasions, in 2006 and 2008, over this distance. If he competes at the European Athletics Championships Barcelona 2010, Tete, which is his nickname, will defend his bronze medal obtained in Göteborg four years ago.