Marta García Alonso (born 1 January 1998) is a Spanish middle- and long-distance runner competing for the On Athletics Club Europe. She won the bronze medal in the 1500 m at the 2019 Mediterranean Athletics U23 Indoor Championships, and she was the 2021 Spanish Indoor Athletics Championships and 2023 Spanish outdoor championships winner in the 3000 metres and 5000 metres respectively.
Career García is from the Province of León, where she started running from the age of three. She initially competed for the athletics division of the FC Barcelona club. By 2019, she had moved to Palencia to be coached by Uriel Reguero in Valladolid.
García's first international race was at the 2017 IAAF World Cross Country Championships – Junior women's race, where she was the 3rd scorer for Spain in 54th place, contributing to a 14th-place team finish. Following that at the 2017 European Cross Country Championships, García finished 13th overall in the U20 race and the first Spaniard ahead of teammates Lucía Rodríguez and Carla Gallardo, earning her team a bronze medal.
That bronze medal result was improved upon at the 2018 European Cross Country Championships, this time in the U23 race, when García was the 3rd scorer and 12th overall on the Spanish team earning a silver medal. It was the first ever medal by Spain in the U23 category at the European Cross Country Championships.
At the 2019 Mediterranean Athletics U23 Indoor Championships, García won a bronze medal in the women's 1500 m. She nearly won the silver, but was out-kicked by Alexa Lemitre of France. The medal contributed to Spain's second-place showing overall at the event, behind only the host France. García also competed at the 2019 European U23 Championships in the women's 1500 m, but she did not qualify for the finals.
At the 2021 Spanish Indoor Athletics Championships, García won the 3000 m, her first senior national title. This earned her qualification to the 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships, where García competed in the 3000 m and barely missed out on the finals. After what she thought was a good start tactically, García said she brushed with another runner with 400 m to go which hampered her final push. That race gave her confidence to try for the Olympic standards in the 1500 m and 5000 m, which she had previously said were out of reach. García ultimately was not selected for the Spanish Olympic team.
In 2021, García signed with the On Athletics Club, joining Carmela Cardama Báez as the other Spanish women's athlete on the team.
García was entered in the 1500 m and 3000 m at the 2022 Mediterranean Games, but she did not start either event. At the 2022 European Championships 5000 m, García finished 12th in a 15:23.36 personal best. At the 2022 European Cross Country Championships, competing for the first time in the senior division, García finished 41st overall and did not score for the Spanish team, which placed 4th in the team standings.
During the 2023 indoor season, García competed at the European Indoor Championships 3000 m, qualifying for the final and finishing 10th. Outdoors, García set her goal on achieving the Budapest World Athletics Championships standards in the 1500 m and 5000 m. Though she was not ultimately able to achieve them, she came closest at the 2023 Golden Gala, where she was a part of Faith Kipyegon's world record-breaking 1500 m race and finished 14th in a personal best of 4:07.22. At the 2023 European Cross Country Championships, García was a member of the Spanish silver medal-winning team, but she was only the 5th Spaniard to finish and did not score for the team.
She obtained a bronze medal in the 5000 m at the 2024 European Athletics Championships with a new personal best of 14:44.04, besting the 29-year old national record of Julia Vaquero in the process.
Statistics International competitions 2017European U20 ChampionshipsGrosseto, Italy7th3000 m9:37.835th5000 m17:13.432018Mediterranean U23 ChampionshipsJesolo, Italy2nd5000 m6:31.392019Mediterranean U23 Indoor ChampionshipsMiramas, France3rd1500 m 4:23.81European U23 ChampionshipsGävle, Sweden17th (h)1500 m4:33.432021European Indoor ChampionshipsToruń, Poland14th (h)3000 m 9:02.00European Cross Country ChampionshipsDublin, Ireland5thMixed 4 × 1.5 km 18:132022European ChampionshipsMunich, Germany12th5000 m15:23.36European Cross Country ChampionshipsVenaria Reale, Italy41st7662 m 29:052023European Indoor ChampionshipsIstanbul, Turkey10th3000 m 8:54.92European Cross Country ChampionshipsBrussels, Belgium36th8000 m 37:082024World Indoor ChampionshipsGlasgow, United Kingdom10th3000 m 8:40.34European ChampionshipsRome, Italy3rd5000 m14:44.04Olympic GamesParis, France21st (h)5000 m15:08.872025European Indoor ChampionshipsApeldoorn, Netherlands4th3000 m 8:53.67World Indoor ChampionshipsNanjing, China7th3000 m 8:40.80World ChampionshipsTokyo, Japan7th5000 m15:01.022026World Indoor ChampionshipsToruń, Poland –3000 m DQEuropean ChampionshipsBirmingham, United Kingdom2nd5000 m15:39.98Mediterranean GamesTaranto, Italy4th1500 m4:10.87World Ultimate ChampionshipBudapest, Hungary10th5000 m14:43.94
Personal bests Event Mark Place Competition Venue Date Ref 1500 metres 4:05.61 7th Hanžeković Memorial Zagreb, Croatia 10 September 2023 3000 metres 8:29.32 6th Bislett Games Oslo, Norway 30 May 2024 3000 meters (short track) 8:38.34 8th The TRACK at New Balance Boston, USA 4 Feb 2024 5000 metres 14:44.04 3rd European Championships Rome, Italy 7 June 2024 5000 meters (short track) 14:46.37 4th Boston University Boston, USA 27 Jan 2024
National titles Spanish Athletics Championships 5000 metres: 2022, 2023
Notes
References
External links
Marta García at RFEA
Marta García at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics Marta García – COE – Paris 2024