Twenty athletes, with the skater Olivia Smart and the skier Quim Salarich as flag bearers, will represent Spain in the Winter Olympic Games … of Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo, which will be held from February 6 to 22.
As reported by the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), meeting in an extraordinary manner this Tuesday by videoconference to approve the final list, this number of competitors equals the participation in Sochi 2014, the two editions with a largest Spanish delegation in a major winter event.
In a first analysis, it can be concluded that the Spanish Ice Sports Federation will be represented by seven athletes. Olivia Smart, who will be one of the standard bearers, and Tim Dieck will debut together in an Olympic competition in the form of figure skating dance. For the skater it will be her second Olympic Games as a member of the Spanish Olympic team, while the skater will debut with Spain, after having participated in Beijing 2022 with Germany.
In that same modality, Sofia Val and Asaf Kazimov will also debut in the Games, after a historic classification. Tomás Guarino will also compete in figure skating, but in his case it will be in the men’s individual competition. Nil Llop and Daniel Milagros will be the first Spanish athletes to compete in a winter Olympic event in speed skating. Llop will participate in the 500 meters, while Milagros will participate in the 1,000.
On the other hand, the Spanish Winter Sports Federation will go to Milan represented by nine athletes. In alpine skiing there will be Joaquim Salarich, the second standard bearer, and Arrieta Rodríguez. Bernat Sellés, Jaume Pueyo and Marc Colell will participate in cross-country skiing. And finally, Lucas Eguibar and Álvaro Romero will represent Spain in snowboard cross, Queralt Castellet -silver at the Beijing Games- in halfpipe and Nora Cornell in slopestyle and big air.
Likewise, it is worth noting that the Spanish Mountain and Climbing Sports Federation will become the first federation with Spanish participation in both the summer and winter Olympic Games, thanks to the debut of mountain skiing as an Olympic sport. There will be four athletes representing said federation: Oriol Cardona, Ana Alonso, Ot Ferrer and María Costa. The first two will compete in both individual and mixed relay, while the remaining two will only compete in the individual competition.
It is important to note that this list of participants is not definitive, since it could undergo some modification, from today until January 26, due to the reallocation of places, thus expanding the number of athletes that would form the Spanish Olympic Team, as reported by the COE.
The COE valued the choice of Olivia Smart and Quim Salarich as standard bearers at the Opening Ceremony of the Games. “Two athletes who represent talent, effort and the values of Olympicism, and who will have the honor of leading the Spanish Olympic team in a very special event,” highlighted the president of the COE, Alejandro Blanco.
“It is a pleasure to be able to represent Spain for the third time in the Olympic Games and this year they have given me the news that I am going to be the flag bearer, and that fills me with pride,” acknowledged Salarich, who arrives at these Games “with a maturity at the level of results and at the level of skiing that he did not have in the previous ones,” on a track that “is very adaptable” to its conditions. “I’m going to give 100% of myself,” he said.
