Miguel Angel Lopez will no doubt have an extra desire to win the European Race Walking Cup in Murcia next month.
The Spanish European 20km champion will lead his country in the event that is taking place in the city where he was born.
Lopez produced a performance to remember last summer as he won the first major gold medal of his career with a thrilling victory in the rain of Zurich at the European Athletics Championships.
He is part of a strong Spanish squad for the competition on 17 May, an event where he has won silver twice, in Royal Leamington Spa in 2007, and two years ago in Dudince, when the Cup was last staged.
On the latter occasion, he was beaten by just eight seconds - 1:21:40 to 1:21:48 - by Denis Strelkov and Lopez gained a semblance of revenge in Zurich as the Russian was back in third.
Relive the final moments of the race below:
[VIDEO src='1275757' align='right']
France’s Yohann Diniz triumphed in Dudince and in a year where has already broken the 20km record with 1:17:02 - before Japan’s Yusuke Suzuki took it down to 1:16:36 - it could be some race in Murcia if he decides to compete.
Alongside Lopez in the Spanish 20km team will be Alvaro Martin, Alberto Amezcua and Jose Ignacio Diaz.
It was some morning for Lopez back in August as his brilliant late surge saw him go in front of Russia’s Aleksandr Ivanov to take gold, 12 months after winning bronze at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow.
He knew the pressure on him. As he said afterwards: 'Spain has a great tradition in race walking and it is a big responsibility to keep that going.'
La página de la @atletismoRFEA ya dedica un espacio a la Copa de Europa de Marcha que se disputará en Murcia en mayo. http://t.co/TkLE0eP6Ce
— Miguel ngel López (@MA_LopezNicolas) March 31, 2015
Lopez’s teammate Jesus Angel Garcia might be 45 but he is still going strong and is in the 50km squad, almost 22 years after he won the world title in Stuttgart. He has won the European Race Walking Cup on three occasions - in 1996, 2000 and 2001.
The rest of the 50km squad is Marc Tur, Benjamin Sanchez and Luis Manuel Corchete.
Their women’s 20km squad is led by Beatriz Pascual and includes Raquel Gonzalez, Julia Takacs and Maria Jose Poves.