Spain's Kevin López skips Istanbul to improve Helsinki hopes

'I want to be in good shape at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki,' says Kevin Lopez of Spain.

Many athletics fans might be surprised to see Kevin López's name missing from the Spanish team going to the World Indoor Championships later this week but the 2009 European Athletics Junior Championships 800m winner has chosen instead to bid for outdoor glory in Helsinki.

'It's a decision that I took at the start of the year with my coach and I'm not changing my plans. I've opted for a good outdoor season and I can't fight on all fronts,' said López.

'I want to be in good shape at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki and then at the Olympic Games in London,' said the 21-year-old, who is one of Europe's most promising prospects over two laps of the track.

In addition to his continental junior title three years ago, he won an 800m silver medal at the 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships and also finished third at the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships over the same distance.

He also made the semi-finals of the 2011 World Championships last summer and this summer he is aiming for his first senior medal outdoors after finishing sixth at the last European Athletics Championships in Barcelona two years ago, when just 20.

Despite Spain's success in the men's middle distance events, surprisingly the country has only ever won one medal over 800m at the European Athletics Championships, Tomás de Teresa's bronze in 1994.

Despite passing over going to the World Indoor Championships, López has still been seen quite regularly this indoor season, using the winter as a springboard to summer success, and is actually unbeaten in his four 800m races, including winning the Spanish indoor title two weekends ago.

Another of López's aims during the summer is bringing down the Spanish 800m record of 1:43.83, which has belonged to Antonio Reina since 2002. He can boast of a best of 1:44.49 which he ran last year.