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The athlete Abel Antón, two-time marathon world champion and the 1997 Prince of Asturias Award for Sports, will run the final marathon of his career in Berlin in 2027 alongside the Aural Team, as announced this Friday at the congress commemorating the 60th anniversary of Aural Hearing Centers being held this weekend in Valencia.
The choice of the German capital by the Soriano long-distance runner, world champion in Athens in 1997 and Seville in 1999, for his farewell is not accidental, as it is one of the great cities where he achieved long-distance success in 1996, with a time of 2:09:15. It was also the stage where in 2005 he began his association as an Ambassador of Aural and where the Aural Team and @auralsuperación were born, an initiative created to give visibility to untreated hearing loss, to combat the stigma associated with this condition and to transmit a message of overcoming: that limits are set by each person, both in sport and in life.
As part of this final athletic challenge, Abel Antón will also lead the preparation of a group of runners linked to Aural who will participate in the Berlin Marathon under the motto “That untreated hearing loss should not limit you.” Through a training and mentoring program, the athlete will share with the team his experience and the values of effort, perseverance, and overcoming that have marked his career, turning the event into a new awareness-raising platform to raise awareness about untreated hearing loss and to demonstrate that this condition should not prevent anyone from achieving their goals.
With this announcement, Antón will crown one of the most brilliant careers in Spanish athletics Spanish, in which he was also the European champion in the 10,000 meters in Helsinki in 1994 and, after retiring from professional competition, has become one of the main promoters of popular races in Spain.
“Competing again in Berlin in 2027 holds a double meaning for me. There I won in 1996 the first major marathon of my life and there too began my union and commitment with Aural. Returning to run those streets more than three decades later, surrounded by the support of the great family of Aural Hearing Centers and the Aural Team, is the best way to bid farewell to the distance that gave me everything. It is a pride to take on this final challenge hand in hand with those who have trusted in me for so long,” commented Abel Antón.
Por su parte, Juan Ignacio Martínez, CEO de Aural, manifestó que para la compañía es un “auténtico honor haber caminado junto a un deportista y una persona de la talla de Abel Antón durante más de dos décadas”.
“Abel encarna a la perfección los valores de esfuerzo, superación y constancia que forman parte del ADN de Aural. Junto a él hemos demostrado durante más de veinte años que el deporte es una extraordinaria herramienta para sensibilizar a la sociedad. El Equipo Aural nació precisamente para visibilizar la pérdida auditiva no tratada, luchar contra los prejuicios que todavía existen y recordar que una pérdida auditiva no debe marcar ni limitar los proyectos, los sueños o las metas de una persona”, señaló.
“Estaremos a su lado en cada paso hacia esa meta tan especial y acompañándole en este último gran reto deportivo que simboliza todo lo que hemos construido juntos durante estos años. Además, nos hace especial ilusión que Abel vaya a liderar la preparación de un equipo que correrá en Berlín bajo el lema ‘Que la pérdida auditiva no te limite’, porque representa perfectamente nuestro propósito de derribar barreras y demostrar que escuchar bien ayuda a vivir plenamente y a perseguir cualquier objetivo”, apuntó.
The announcement by Abel Antón was made in the Valencian capital, where the Soriano-born athlete will participate in a program of activities organized by Aural that includes hiking, running routes and cycling through the Albufera Natural Park with the aim of making hearing loss more visible.
Abel Antón (Ojuel, Soria, 1962) counts among the best palmarès in Spanish athletics. A two-time world marathon champion in Athens 1997 and Seville 1999, he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports, now the Princess of Asturias Award, in 1997 and received the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit a year earlier.
In addition to his major track victories, including wins at the Berlin Marathon in 1996, Kyongju (Korea) in 1997 and London in 1998, as well as the European gold in the 10,000 meters in Helsinki 1994, he has also been a promoter of awareness about hearing loss. In 2024 he participated alongside the Aural Team in the Škoda Titan Desert Morocco, one of the world’s most demanding mountain biking events, to contribute to this awareness effort.
The participation of Antón in the Berlin Marathon 2027 will crown more than twenty years of uninterrupted partnership between the athlete and Aural Hearing Centers through the Aural Team. Created to give visibility to untreated hearing loss and to help break the stigma associated with this condition, the project has promoted for two decades a philosophy shared by Aural and Abel Antón: to show that barriers are meant to be overcome and that, in sport as in life, the limits are set by each person.
As part of this legacy, Aural will also promote the participation of a team of runners in the Berlin Marathon, coached by Abel Antón and united under the slogan “That untreated hearing loss should not limit you,” with the aim of continuing to raise society’s awareness of the consequences of not treating hearing loss and demonstrating that, with proper support, no person should give up on their goals. This initiative will be accompanied by a program of activities and awareness actions that the company will announce in the coming months on the road to Berlin 2027.
