Lucas & Álvaro: Livigno Adventure

The snowboard cross event in the next Olympic Games has a double Guipuzcoan accent. Two of the participants were born and raised to the sound of the waves of La Concha beach. Lucas Eguibar (February 9, 1994, 31 years old) and Álvaro Romero (July 3, 2003, 22 years old) will take part on February 12 in the test aimed at proclaiming the fastest and most skilled on a snowboard. At stake, nothing more and nothing less than an Olympic metal. “The suitcase is prepared, well, the federation has to send it but everything is already prepared,” says Álvaro Romero, who will make his debut in an Olympic event in Milan-Cortina D’Ampezzo. The man from San Sebastián will be accompanied “by his family” during the days he will be in the transalpine country. Before that he will train in Astún, France and Austria. He will travel on Monday, February 2 to the place where the snowboard cross event will be held, the Livigno station.

Eguibar, who will participate in his fourth Games, explains that there will be different venues for the events. In which they will be “the halfpipe, slopestyle, big air and parallel giant slalom also compete, so I guess we will settle for what we have close up.” They will have to watch the rest of the tests on television.

It should not fall on deaf ears that of the twenty representatives that the Spanish expedition to the Winter Olympic Games will have, three of them will be from Gipuzkoa. Lucas Eguibar and Álvaro Romero in snowboarding are joined by Arrietta Rodríguez, who will take part in the alpine ski slalom test. “It’s just that we are from Gipuzkoa,” Eguibar says with a sly smile, puffing out his chest at the list of participants. “In my case I have to thank my parents that they already skied and that I have had skis or a board since I was little,” Romero certifies. Eguibar also remembers Imanol Rojo from Tolosa. “It’s been a shame because he’s been fighting to get into cross-country skiing and he’s barely been able to.” Gipuzkoan poker has not been far away in the Winter Olympic Games, something, without a doubt, of great value for the territory.

High speed

Eguibar and Romero visited the El Diario Vasco facilities yesterday before heading to their destination, the Livigno station, in the heart of the Alps, almost on the border with Switzerland. And in strict live action, in the middle of a photo session and posed in the DV editorial office, the phone rang in unison. They had just received the appearance and layout of the track where they will compete on February 12. “Here I have it,” said Lucas Eguibar before paying attention to the screen and having Álvaro Romero share the view of the track. “Let’s see, it’s one thing to see it here in 3D and another in situ,” warns Eguibar.

The track is currently unbuilt and both riders will have the opportunity to test it on the opening day of the Games, Wednesday, February 4. “It depends a lot on the conditions we have there,” highlights Romero, to which Lucas points out that “for example if it snows during the test or shortly before, it will be a slower track. If it has snowed before and it is cold, faster.

It is a “technical” track, where there are tight curves and ramps for jumps that promise a lot of spectacularity. “There are times when we have reached almost 90 kilometers per hour,” they say, although the international federation tries to preserve the safety of the riders with safer tracks where at most 60 per hour is reached.

Lucas Eguibar knows this well, as he had a mishap in the last event he took part in China, where Romero precisely obtained the ticket for the Games. “I’m fine, a little sore but I’ll be at my best for the Games,” says the four-time Olympian.

The fall, seen on video, was chilling because of the somersault it took. «I fell with my neck and that is usually dangerous. “I was lucky.” The runway in question was located in Dongbeiya (China). «It was very short and narrow. To give you an idea, it took between 33 and 35 seconds to complete the entire layout. And Eguibar had the bad luck to collide with a rival and go down. “I prefer long and wide slopes,” says Álvaro Romero, “because they better adapt to my qualities.”

Their objectives differ at first but they meet again. «We have to make the best descent, let’s get to that. The best of our lives,” the two people from San Sebastian agree. «It may sound a bit harsh but I have gold in mind. From there I’ll see how far I can go,” says Eguibar. «These are my fourth Games, I have already experienced the whole shebang that is set up, the Olympic village, the big event that it is… and now I am focused on the descent that I have to do. “I have gold in mind.”

“I suffered until the end”

Romero, of course, wants to reach as high as possible, but ahead he says that “what I want is to enjoy.” He is sincere when highlighting that “I have had a hard time with this whole issue to qualify. The truth is that when I found out that he was in it, it was a liberation for me. The explanation is simple: to obtain a ticket for the Games, the results of the second half of last season and the complete results of the latter are counted. Romero suffered a significant pubic injury that prevented him from competing and that is why he has had to make good positions this year. “I suffered until the end,” he says, “because I didn’t know if it was me or an Italian because since we were hosts, they had one more place. Luckily it was me,” says the San Sebastian native.

There are 32 riders classified and only three of them will get on the podium. “There are eight rounds of four and the first two are classified like this until the final,” they say. And what would happen if Álvaro andLucas coincided in the same round? They look at each other and smile. “I wish we could spend both,” says Eguibar. “It’s usually quite Murphy’s law, it’s already happened to me with other teammates.”

The descents are usually wild, “very hard,” they point out. «It’s about not leaving a single gap for the rival, although now the rules are being tightened. The race is reviewed later in case there are irregularities,” they say. «It’s just one race in four years. “We have to go for it all.”