The Catalan swimmer signs for CN Barcelona and returns to competition
BARCELONA, 19 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish swimmer Mireia Belmonte was presented this Thursday as a new member of the Barcelona Swimming Club, an entity to which she arrives ready to return to the competition, in this same month of October and after being unemployed for a year, with the main objective of qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which would be his fifth Olympic event.
After the Olympic Games in Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020, Mireia Belmonte wants to be at the Parisian Olympic event. “I have a great challenge, which is the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” she said in her presentation.
Paris is the great challenge for the Olympic and world champion despite the fact that she has not even been able to compete for a year due to recurring shoulder problems and injuries. Despite this, she is confident of being in Paris 2024 and she will jump back into the pool to achieve it.
Her debut as a CN Barcelona swimmer will be in the Catalan Club Cup, which will take place next Saturday, October 28 at the facilities of her new club, in the Nova Escullera of the CNB. Belmonte had not competed since the Berlin World Cup which took place between October 21 and 23, 2022.
“I don’t set goals for times, because I will need to see them, or for position. I am going step by step and I think I am on the right track. But the injury has been very long and competing again, putting on my swimsuit, is very important for my goals and my motivation,” he said, in this sense.
“I want to see what times I do to modify things or continue with the same ones. Being able to compete is already a good indicator, but I still have a long way to go to do it at the highest level. Although I am closer than before,” he added.
Belmonte assured the media that his intention is to give up long-distance distances and focus on 200 and 400 butterfly and style events. “He left out 800 and 1500,” he noted.
To be in the Paris event, Mireia Belmonte will have to get her ticket (achieving minimum marks) in the June pre-Olympic selective, the only one in which she will be able to swim to seek the pass after not being in the last World Cup in Fukuoka and not having a ticket to the next World Cup, in Doha, in February.
“I’m going to take it slowly but surely. I know that I’m coming from a very difficult year, but I also know that I’m evolving and that I can get to June very well,” he predicted.
For his part, the president of the Barcelona club, Bernat Antràs, was satisfied to have Belmonte in the ranks of CN Barcelona. “He has an enviable record, with four medals in the Olympic Games, 16 in World Cups and 23 in Europeans. His arrival will be a stimulus for the boys and girls of the club.
2023-10-19 15:40:05
#great #challenge #Paris #Olympic #Games
