Athletics: Asier Martínez, upon his return: “Enjoying again is the goal, feeling like before”
Asier Martínez (Pamplona, 2000) has recovered his smile. After being crowned camp in Europe y world bronze110 meter hurdles in 2022, the athlete experienced the bitter side of the sport in 2023, when he had to give up outdoors due to plantar fasciitis that ended in a tear. Several months later, and after a concentration in Tenerife, Asier, who will be tested in the warm-up after suffering a small physical mishap, returns to the track at the Navarra Indoor Athletics. Before, he talks with MARCA to talk about his recovery and goals.
Q. How are you feeling after several months away from the slopes due to injury?
R. I’m finally fine. A long summer passed, in which I suffered a torn fascia and in September I was able to start training. Now I am looking at that situation of suffering from last year with more distance and little by little I am becoming happier.
Q. Was the injury the trigger for everything?
R. We don’t know what was the trigger for what. The extra-sports situation was not good either. This last year has been new for me because I have never had a season where I couldn’t do athletics. I saw that I had to get off the slopes, but I didn’t know how to manage it. But in those situations it’s time to learn. I came from some good seasons in which perhaps I didn’t have time to assimilate everything, to see where I was.
Q. Do you think there is a new Asier Martínez?
R. I don’t know if a new Asier or part of the Asier that should be. It is the development of sports careers to know how to manage these things. Yes, he is a more learned Asier.
I don’t know if there is a new Asier or not. It is the development of sports careers to know how to manage these things. Yes, he is a more learned Asier
Q. After several months without doing hurdles, what did you feel the first day you jumped again?
R. Fear. Because there were false lights at the end of the tunnel. It seemed like there were good months when she looked back and seemed to have gotten over it, but then the recovery took a hit. We had to wait to see this effective improvement of the injury.
Q. Did the expectations about your performance after your good results influence the bad emotional moment you went through?
R. It has not been so much the external focus or the opinion of others but my personal one. I have always had excessive demands, I have been the one who did not allow myself bad results. I have always wanted to be well in everything, physically and mentally.
I have always had excessive demands, I have been the one who did not allow myself bad results
Q. But sports careers have ups and downs…
R. Yes, it is the clearest learning, one of the ones that can help me the most. But I also want to comment that it is going well. I have learned from certain situations, but I don’t want to be seen as a crybaby. We must allow ourselves a certain margin of error.
Q. What kind of help did you receive those months? Did you go to a sports psychologist?
R. Yes, I received all kinds of help, from mental health professionals, psychologists, friends, family, my coach… They have all accompanied me, they are people who have indirectly helped me solve this situation and arm myself to overcome it.
Q. With the Games on the horizon, how do you approach the season?
R. We will do indoor and outdoor track, although we will prioritize this outdoors because of the Olympic Games. This winter what I want is to enjoy it again and be able to turn the page, sell that illusion that we are finally okay, that things are getting better, that there is an end to that episode. Then, I want to get outdoors in a healthy way and prepare more or less ambitious goals. I don’t want to give excessive importance to the Games.
Asier Martnez, on his visit to MARCA after the world bronze
Q. You debut on December 29 at the Navarra Indoor Athletics in Pamplona, at your home. What do you expect from that return and the indoor track?
R. Enjoying again is the objective of the indoor court, not so much a brand challenge. I want to feel the way I felt before again. I am competitive and I want to pigeonhole myself into that competitiveness.
Q. So you prefer not to set specific goals, not even in the Games…
R. At least now, I’m not talking about specific objectives. Because of my way of being, I will be the one who ends up putting them on, but on an indoor court we have to give ourselves that space, to truly feel back, physically and mentally. I don’t set goals for myself, but now is not the time.
Q. Because, despite the recent bad moments, you are still the one who demands the most…
R. It is not so easy to change the way you are. I place the demand that determines my physical and psychological state on myself.
Q. What can you still improve technically?
R. I think we have not reached the ceiling in improvement. I am 23 years old and there are things to improve, for example, the first hurdles, reaching maximum speed as soon as possible because I am late compared to my rivals.
Asier Martínez, Orlando Ortega, Jael Bestu… at the Pamplona meeting
Navarra Indoor Athletics will have the presence of different athletes of international stature. In addition to Asier Martínez, Orlando Ortega will also return to the track in the 60 hurdles, while in the sprint there will also be Jael Bestu, Andy Diaz (twice winner of the Diamond League in triple) and María Vicente, among others.
