Updated:07/02/2021 00: 37h
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Accustomed to relishing the successes of the Fernández-Ochoa brothers, Spanish alpine skiing has been losing steam in recent years and is now experiencing its particular journey through the desert. This Monday the World tests startl 2021, based in the Italian resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo, and for the six skiers who will finally represent Spain the greatest success is being there. None of the members of the national team is among the top fifty in the ranking in the different World Cup modalities, and only the insistence on competing and scoring points in secondary events has given them the right to be in Italy.
Any possibility, no longer of a medal, but of being among the best, seems like a chimera. “The growth of this group is constant, but we lack the support of a result that is the top 15 in the world that should arrive soon,” he explains. Olmo Hernán, sports director of the Spanish Federation of Winter Sports. «Athletes are working very hard. It is demonstrated by the fact of having representation in each of the disciplines with demanding criteria that a few years ago they were not able to meet.
There is a fact, and it is that skiing has never been the fashionable sport in Spain. The gold of Paquito Fernandez-Ochoa at the Sapporo 72 Games it was as exotic as if a Norwegian bullfighter suddenly emerged. But that unexpected triumph lit a small flame that was later enlivened by the bronze of his sister Blanca at Albertville 92, a metal that was already preceded by four triumphs on the world circuit. María José Rienda and Carolina Ruiz, the last winner of a World Cup event, in 2013, continued those successes in women. For more than five years, however, no one has been able to show their head. “This is not Austria or Switzerland, here winter athletes continue to come out by spontaneous generation,” he explains to ABC Maria Jose Rienda, former president of the Higher Sports Council, winner of six World Cup events and last to achieve a place among the top ten in a World Cup (Santa Caterina 2005). «The elite athletes they are not made from one day to another, it takes a lot of continuity. Skiing is a very sacrificial sport that, in the case of Spain, requires spending many days away from home and competing in rather harsh conditions. Much support is needed. You have to think carefully about what you are doing with our athletes and also see what was done in the past that worked. We cannot settle.
The long-term
“I know that the base has been working much better in recent years, different things are being tried,” he says. Núria Pau, who fought his place in the Cortina Giant Slalom until almost the last breath. “If you can keep that job and take it to the national team I’m sure they will see each other again relevant results in the coming years».
Pau is the only woman in the delegation, which confirms Rienda’s concern about the situation of the women’s national team: «There are fewer and fewer girls, and I think some generations are being lost along the way. The former secretary of state also points to the emergence of new disciplines. “Now we have powerful snowboard and freestyle teams, and it is logical that there are more resources that are allocated to these modalities.”
In the back room, the Federation still hopes to relaunch the Olympic candidacy of Pyrenees-Barcelona 2030 to give new impetus to a sport in need of new references.
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