Jaël Bestué’s curve is a symphony. Strength, speed, and technique woven into the legs of a 25-year-old, 1.60m tall young woman who, step by step, has positioned herself among the best specialists in the world in the 200 meters. Last year, on the green track of Vallehermoso, she achieved a prestigious mark (22.19s) that allowed her to rub shoulders with the stars of speed. This year, stronger, more explosive after a winter dedicated to the 60m, she wanted to aim for the medals. She hadn’t run that fast, but she had faith. The BBC placed her among the favorites, alongside the British Amy Hunt, who had just won the 100m, and Dina Asher Smith, the great speed legend in the islands. The Catalan, from Sant Cugat, had suffered this year in the last meters after a spectacular curve. That was her challenge. And in Birmingham, she lost some positions again, relegating her to seventh place (22.69s).
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The Barcelonan, who also could not match the fourth place achieved by Sandra Myers in Split in 1990, has a particularity; she wants to be one of the best sprinters, but she also aspires to become Doctor Bestué. She can only train once a day and many mornings she spends standing. In the afternoon, sometimes, Panter, her coach, has to adapt the training to the energy his disciple brings. Hunt knows what her teammate and rival is talking about. The Englishwoman, already European champion in the 100m and 200m, studied English Philology at Cambridge and there, surrounded by medieval buildings, every year she wondered if it was worth continuing. She didn’t quit and finished the degree. On campus, after surprising everyone by breaking the under-18 world record in the 200m in the fifth race of her life at this distance, students recognized her and challenged her to a sprint race. Hunt, like the character from High School Musical, arrived in Birmingham and proclaimed: “I want it all (I want it all)”. So far, she hasn’t failed.
Now she is a star sought after by sponsors, gold with 22.19s, and in the English city, with blue nails, like the Birmingham FC jerseys, she has defeated Asher-Smith, the queen of British speed, in both finals, who could only take bronze after being surpassed by Rhasidat Adeleke, 23 years old, the first Irishwoman to run a 200m final and who did so with a new national record (22.28s) and a hundredth faster than the 2019 world champion.
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Bestué left Alexander Stadium happy. Her position, seventh, was identical to that of two years ago in Rome, where she left frustrated. This time, no. “I am happy because I went for everything. It is the first championship where I believe I can achieve something big and fight for the medals. I was very good in the first part, but in the end several rivals passed me. This time I can’t blame myself for anything. I lack that speed I generate in the curve and running wider.” Now she has the 4x100m relay card left with a quartet that will try to make up for the absence of Esperança Cladera.
