The Colombian-Spanish athlete Stefy Navarro has been crowned this Sunday as the Spanish Parkour champion in both the ‘speed’ and ‘Freestyle’ modalities, in the first Parkour Spanish Championship which was held this weekend in Pamplona.
A victory has been seen marred by a blow to her left knee when overcoming the last obstacle of the circuit, for which reason, the runner-up in the world in Tokyo last October, had to be transferred to the hospital for some tests. , which has prevented him from attending the awards ceremony.
The athlete has achieved victory in the absolute female category in the two finals that have been held this Sunday, with a score of 19,500 in ‘freestyle’, remaining ahead of Marta Gutiérrez, who has achieved a score of 18,250; and a mark of 51,347 in the ‘speed’ modality, followed by Alba Salazar from Bilbao, with a time of 52,460.
“This championship has been a challenge, I have put myself to the test and I have seen that I am capable of much more. I think that in the coming years parkour is going to be much more popular and that I, being constant and continuing as I have been up to now, can achieve great things in upcoming competitions”, Salazar pointed out.
In the men’s category, the awards have been divided between Aaron Vivar, in ‘Freestyle’, with a score of 24,250; and Héctor Martínez, in ‘Speed’, who has managed to overcome the circuit in a time of 29,900 seconds.
Vivar, who also participated in the Tokyo championship, has been very grateful for the reception in Pamplona and has pointed out that the RFEG “is doing a very good job” for the future development of this sport.
The rest of the prizes in the ‘Freestyle’ modality have gone to Sara Sánchez, in the female Under 17; and Sergi Sarmiento in the men’s Under 17, while in ‘speed’ the winners have been Petra Canyelles, in the women’s Under 17, and Mario Gil in the men’s Under 17.
In the male Children’s category, David López, has been proclaimed champion in both disciplines.
An increasingly professionalized sport
Since the Royal Spanish Gymnastics Federation (RFEG) included parkour in its catalog of competitions in the category of non-Olympic specialties in 2018, this discipline has become more and more professional and has enabled its practitioners to train safer and in better adapted spaces.
“Since I can count on the Mayuelu club, in Vitoria, I can train more safely, know where I’m failing, improve it and run less risk of hurting myself, which is the most important thing”, Salazar assured.
Currently many of these athletes are self-taught or have not had tools such as coaches or sports centers, something that according to Vivar is changing “and now young people can count on people within this discipline to guide and advise them to achieve a more complete development and fast”.
For his part, the Parkour Development Coordinator at the RFEG, Simon Richman, highlighted the large number of people who attended the championship this Sunday and insisted that he “is sure” that parkour is going to be an included discipline. in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, to which “Spain can bring great competitors”.
