Olympic, European and world race walking champion Alvaro Martin from Spain has announced his retirement at the age of 30.
Competing in his fourth Olympics in Paris, Martin completed the set of major medals by winning individual bronze in the 20km race walk before joining forces with his good friend and fellow world champion Maria Perez to win gold in the inaugural mixed marathon race walk relay.
Reflecting on his illustrious career, Martin cites his gold medal in the relay in Paris 2024 as the most memorable moment of his career.
"I'll take the gold medal in the relay because I shared it with María and because I knew it was my last competition.
"When I was able to overtake Pintado in that relay, I knew it was the last kilometre of my sporting career and I found strength, it was emotional and exciting. I'm very proud of that because I know everything that was behind it," he said.
This Olympic gold medal sits alongside his European 20km race walk titles from Berlin 2018 and Munich 2022 and his two world titles from the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest where he swept the 20km and 35km race walk titles.
“I say goodbye with pain and sadness,” said Martin at an award ceremony on Saturday evening.
"I announced in Paris that I would not be competing at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles; today (7) I announced that my last competition as a professional athlete was in Paris."
Martin retires as the eighth fastest European 20km race walker in history with 1:17:32 and the sixth fastest in the 35km race walk with 2:25:58.