Spain
2017
Fifty-six athletes and no medal at the World Championships, four medals in Belgrade, a productive base everywhere below — and the last final of Ruth Beitia.
Spain won no medal at the 2017 World Championships in London: 56 athletes, 28 events, a fourth place for Adel Mechaal in the 1500 m and a seventh for Orlando Ortega in the hurdles. The same federation won four medals at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March, three events at the European Team Championships in Lille and seven medals at the European U23 Championships — and in October Ruth Beitia retired at 38, her twelfth place in the London final her last competition.
This is the whole year: the empty apex of London, golden Belgrade, the base that kept producing, Beitia's farewell and Mechaal's cleared case — and the Joma Spain Storm tracksuit of that allocation, one piece of which is in this archive, still with its tags.
Part of our Season Series — one year at a time. The full national story is in The History of Athletics in Spain. Jump to the 2017 kit or browse the collection.
- London 2017
- 0 medals from 56 athletes in 28 events — Mechaal 4th (1500 m), Ortega 7th (110 m hurdles)
- Belgrade
- 4 medals (1-2-1): Mechaal gold 3000 m (8:00.60), Beitia and Ureña silver, De Arriba bronze
- Lille
- European Team Championships: fifth of eleven, three event wins — Ortega 13.20 equalled the championship record
- The base
- U23 7 medals (3 gold) · U20 4 medals · Šamorín: junior men team gold, Mechaal silver
- The farewell
- Beitia: 12th in the London final (1.88 m), retirement announced 18 October 2017, aged 38
- The records
- Ureña indoor heptathlon 6249 (Prague, Jan) still stands; Ortega's 60 m hurdles 7.48 fell in 2026
- The case
- Mechaal: provisional suspension lifted 9 Dec 2016, whereabouts case decided in his favour, July 2017
- The kit
- Joma since 2009 — 1 piece of the 2017 issue in the archive, the Storm tracksuit, new with tags
Zero From Fifty-Six
Spain took 56 athletes to the World Championships in London, entered 28 events, and won nothing. It was not for lack of finals. Adel Mechaal was fourth in the 1500 m in 3:34.71, one place from the podium; Orlando Ortega, the Olympic silver medallist of the year before, was seventh in the 110 m hurdles final in 13.37; Álvaro Martín walked to eighth in the 20 km in 1:19:41, a season's best, with Diego García thirteenth. Ilias Fifa and Sergio Fernández, medallists in Amsterdam a year earlier, went out in the heats.
Hover or tab on a tier. Team-championship medals are counted per event (first, second and third places). Sources: World Athletics results, London 2017; Wikipedia pages of the 2017 European Indoor, Team, U23, U20 and Cross Country Championships. Verified September 2026.
The six competitions, in a table
| Level | Competition | Medals | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| World Championships | London, 4–13 August | 0 | 56 athletes, 28 events, no medal |
| European Indoors | Belgrade, 3–5 March | 4 | 1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze |
| European Team Championships | Lille, 23–25 June | 12 | fifth of eleven nations |
| European Cross Country | Šamorín, 10 December | 5 | one team gold, two silvers, two bronzes |
| European U23 | Bydgoszcz, 13–16 July | 7 | 3 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze |
| European U20 | Grosseto, 20–23 July | 4 | 1 silver, 3 bronze |
And in the high jump final on 12 August, Ruth Beitia cleared 1.88 m for twelfth place. Nobody knew it in the stadium, but it was the last competition of her career.
Four in Belgrade, and a Farewell
The year had opened well. At the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade, 3–5 March, Spain won four medals. Mechaal took the 3000 m gold in 8:00.60 on the final evening; Jorge Ureña was second in the heptathlon, Álvaro de Arriba third in the 800 m, and Beitia — a month short of 38 — cleared 1.94 m for silver behind Airinė Palšytė's 2.01. Óscar Husillos, whose Birmingham story was a year away, went out in the 400 m semi-finals.
On 18 October 2017 Beitia announced her retirement, at 38, after a career that ran from an eleventh place at the 2002 European Championships to Olympic gold in Rio. The silver in Belgrade was her last medal and London her last final; she has since sat in the Cantabrian regional parliament. The story of the gold at 37 is in our Spain 2016 page.
Mechaal's own year needs its footnote read in full. In late 2016 he had been provisionally suspended over three alleged whereabouts failures; the suspension was lifted on 9 December 2016, and in July 2017 the case was decided in his favour — two of the three failures were found not to be his fault, and no violation was recorded. He went to Belgrade and London cleared, and in December added the individual silver at the European Cross Country Championships in Šamorín.
The Base Kept Producing
Everywhere below the world level, the federation had one of its fuller years. At the European Team Championships in Lille in June, Spain finished fifth of eleven with three event wins — Ortega in 13.20, equalling the championship record, Antonio Abadía in the 5000 m and Ana Lozano in the women's 5000 — and twelve top-three placings in all. A week earlier Ortega had won the Diamond League hurdles in Stockholm in a wind-assisted 13.09.
The under-23 team won seven medals in Bydgoszcz, three of them gold: Diego García in the 20 km walk, Carlos Mayo in the 10,000 m and the women's 4×100 m relay; Ana Peleteiro took silver in the triple jump with 14.19 m. The under-20s came back from Grosseto with a silver for Tariku Novales and three bronzes, among them a 1500 m medal for an 18-year-old Adrián Ben. And in the mud of Šamorín on 10 December the junior men won the team title, the senior men took team silver behind Mechaal's individual silver, and the junior women and the mixed relay added bronzes.
Two records from the winter belong here. Ureña scored 6249 points in the indoor heptathlon in Prague on 28–29 January, still the Spanish record in 2026; Ortega ran 7.48 for the 60 m hurdles in Toruń on 10 February, a national record that stood until Enrique Llopis took it to 7.42 in March 2026. What followed for this squad is in our Spain 2018 page: Husillos's stepped line in Birmingham and the ten medals of Berlin.
From this season · in the archiveJoma Spain Pro Elite Team 2017 Storm TracksuitJoma Storm tracksuit of the 2017 allocation — red hooded shell jacket and pants, the federation crest on the chest and ESPAÑA across the back. New with its original tags.180,00 €View piece →The Joma Storm Tracksuit
The piece we hold from this season is the team tracksuit: a red hooded Storm shell jacket with the federation crest on the right chest, the Joma mark in yellow on the left and ESPAÑA in yellow across the back, over matching red pants marked ESP. It is 100 percent polyester, made in China, style 309021.17, and it has never been worn: it came out of the federation channel new, with its original tags still on.
Joma has dressed the Spanish federation since 2009 — the same partnership that carried the team through Zürich, Amsterdam and Rio. The Storm is the rain-and-wind layer of that issue: the tracksuit an athlete wears to the call room in a wet August in London.
The next Joma seasons in this archive are 2018 and 2019; the whole national arc is in our history of athletics in Spain.
Spain 2017
One piece of the Spanish team's 2017 allocation — the Joma Storm tracksuit of the London cycle, unworn, with its original tags. Federation issue, never retail.
Did Spain win a medal at the 2017 World Championships in London?
No. From 56 athletes in 28 events the best results were Adel Mechaal's fourth place in the 1500 m (3:34.71) and Orlando Ortega's seventh in the 110 m hurdles final (13.37). Álvaro Martín was eighth in the 20 km walk.
When did Ruth Beitia retire?
She announced her retirement on 18 October 2017, aged 38. Her last competition was the high jump final at the London World Championships on 12 August 2017, where she cleared 1.88 m for twelfth; her last medal was the European indoor silver in Belgrade in March.
What did Spain win in 2017 below world level?
Four medals at the European Indoor Championships (Mechaal's 3000 m gold among them), three event wins and fifth place at the European Team Championships in Lille, seven medals at the European U23 Championships, four at the U20 and five at the European Cross Country Championships, including the junior men's team title.
What kit did Spain wear in 2017?
Joma, the federation's supplier since 2009. The Spain collection holds the Joma Storm tracksuit of the 2017 allocation, new with its original tags.
Sources and References
- Wikipedia — Spain at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics — the 56 athletes, 28 events and no medal
- World Athletics — London 2017 men’s 110 m hurdles final result — Ortega seventh in 13.37
- World Athletics — Ruth Beitia announces retirement (October 2017) — the retirement at 38 and London as her last competition
- Wikipedia — 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships — the four Belgrade medals
- Wikipedia — 2017 European Athletics Team Championships — Spain fifth in Lille, the event wins and placings
- Wikipedia — 2017 European Athletics U23 Championships — the seven Bydgoszcz medals
- Wikipedia — 2017 European Cross Country Championships — Mechaal’s silver and the team medals in Šamorín
- Sports Integrity Initiative — Mechaal cleared over whereabouts failures — the July 2017 decision in his favour
- Wikipedia — List of Spanish records in athletics — Ureña’s 6249 and the 60 m hurdles record since 2026
- Joma — sponsor of the RFEA — the federation partnership since 2009