Javi Guerra

Getting to know Javi Guerra a little

Javi Guerra is one of the great names of 21st-century Spanish marathon running, although his career also features excellent results in cross-country and on the track. On 16 April 2023 he became Spanish marathon champion for the fourth time. In May 2025, at 41, he climbed to the top of a national podium once again by becoming Spanish half marathon champion in the Masters 40 category, a race in which he also took senior bronze. He currently holds the Spanish M40 records over 10K and the half marathon. He has spent many years among the elite of Spanish and international marathon running and can boast of having gone under 2h 8m twice. He has represented Spain at European Championships, World Championships and Olympic Games.

Sporting achievements…

Javi has been Spanish champion in almost every distance event: 5,000 m, 10,000 m, 10K road, half marathon and marathon.

In 2009, in Ribadavia (Ourense), he opened the roll of honour of the Spanish 10-kilometre road championships.

Over 42.195 km he holds four national titles: A Coruña 2013, Seville 2018, Seville 2020 and Zaragoza 2023. The first, A Coruña 2013, came unexpectedly, as it was his marathon debut, but along with the joy of the national title he also celebrated earning his place at the World Championships in Moscow. In Seville in 2018 he went under 2:09 (2:08:36). When in 2020, again at the Seville marathon, he became Spanish champion for the third time, he stopped the clock at 2:07:27, his personal best over the distance and, at the time, the third-fastest Spanish time in history (now the ninth-fastest). That outstanding time earned him his place at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

At Tokyo 2020 he fulfilled his dream of becoming an Olympian and making his Olympic marathon debut, something he had been unable to do at Rio de Janeiro 2016 because of a thrombophlebitis that stopped him from starting after travelling all the way to the Brazilian city.

His best marathon times:

• 2:07:27, Seville marathon 2020 (10th place, Spanish champion).
• 2:08:36, Seville marathon 2018 (4th place, Spanish champion).
• 2:09:33, London marathon 2015 (7th place)
• 2:10:19, Madrid marathon 2019 (5th place)
• 2:10:55, London marathon 2017 (9th place)
• 2:11:01, Tokyo marathon 2016 (9th place)
• 2:11:42, Zaragoza marathon 2023 (1st, Spanish champion)
• 2:12:00, Valencia marathon 2022 (30th place)
• 2:12:21, A Coruña marathon 2013 (1st, Spanish champion)
• 2:12:22, European Championships, Berlin 2018 (4th place).

His personal bests:

• 5,000 m: 13:46.12 (Gavà, 2007).
• 10,000 m: 28:53.03 (Avilés, 2009).
• 10K: 28:11 (Valencia, 2020)
• Half marathon: 1:01:21 (Valencia, 2020).
• Marathon: 2:07:27 (Seville, 2020).

What you might not know about Javi…

Javi grew up watching his father, Paco Guerra, run. His father was also a notable athlete, especially in cross-country, and Javi went along with him to train at the Segovia track and to the races he ran around the province. Being Paco Guerra’s son, it is easy to see how his nickname ended up being “Guerrita”, a nickname that has stayed with him throughout his sporting career.

After the blow of not being able to compete in the Olympic marathon at Rio 2016, he set himself the big goal of becoming an Olympian at Tokyo 2020. But in 2017 an innovation arrived that was going to transform and revolutionise the world of the marathon: the carbon plate. Within a short time the athletes using carbon-fibre shoes began to dominate races and bring times down. Javi was then running for a brand (Adidas) that took a while to develop a carbon-plated model that would let runners like him compete on a level playing field. Seeing that he risked missing out on qualification for Tokyo 2020, he decided to break with his sponsor in order to have the freedom to choose the shoes that would give him enough confidence to take on his rivals.