The organizers of the World Championships in Athletics are encouraging athletes to wear a mask when in intramural spaces. However, there is no obligation to do so.

Thus, the vast majority uncover their faces in the mixed zone to speak to journalists – who are obliged to wear a mask when inside.

This is not the case of Tonatiú López. The Mexican says he wants to protect his delegation members and their families accompanying him from the northwest town of Hermosillo to watch him compete in Eugene against the contagion.

“With the increase in cases that there are at the moment, it is not convenient to expose them or to expose myself… In the end, everyone has their priorities,” he said.

He also wants to protect himself. After all, he now has another appointment to respect: the semi-final of the 800 meters.

For the first time in his career, López placed himself in this instance in a world championship, winning his elimination heat on Wednesday with the second fastest time, both in this race and in the others.

López stopped the clock in 1 minute 44.67 seconds, behind only Canadian Marco Arop, who clocked 1:44.56 and competed in the same race.

“That’s the first part of what I want to accomplish,” López said. “I already knew, I already knew it was going to be a fast semi-final, because of the opponents who touched us. Arot’s signature is to always run fast, so we knew it was going to be a tough semi-final, but the important thing is that we made it”.

At the Tokyo Olympics, López had already reached the semifinals. For only three hundredths of a second, he was excluded from the final.

But in his previous World Cup experience, at London 2017, his elimination came in the first round. A year later, a gold medal came at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Barranquilla.

“We equaled our maximum lead at the Olympics,” he said. “In 2017, still at that age, five years ago, I stayed in the playoffs. I’m happy with the job I did today, more than anything considering the time it took”.

Is it an advantage or a pressure to qualify in such good weather?

“The truth is that if they had given me a choice, I would have chosen to run slower, because I would have had less wear and tear, but that was what we had to do, and we had to work for it. .”