Point and followed by Pilar Lamadrid (They are from here / Livinda / Puerto Sherry / Fundación Andalucía Olímpica). In her dream of representing Spain at the Paris Games and winning a medal in the iQFoil class, the current world number 2 in the new Olympic discipline of windsurfing has been training for a few days in what will be the Paris 2024 regatta course.
As part of her preparation for the Test event scheduled from July 11 to 16, the leader of the pre-Olympic team in the specialty disembarked on the 4th in the French town, venue for the sailing competition in the next Olympic Games. She did it to reacquaint herself with her Mediterranean waters, which have already hosted the 2021 European Championship, and readjust to her conditions, first of all thinking about this summer’s regatta and, in the long term, about the assault on the long-awaited podium in Paris.
«We have really sailed very little in Marseille in iQFoil, only the European one two years ago, the first one I did in this class and in which I was fifth»acknowledges the Puerto Sherry Yacht Club sailor, who analyzes the characteristics of the French regatta course. «Here, the average wind is medium or light, a thermal of 7 to 11 knots, although we hope that one day the Mistral wind will enter, similar to the Tramontana that we usually have in Spain through Catalonia in general and that is like the Levante. from Cádiz, a strong wind with gusts of up to 40 knots and waves, totally different conditions from the usual ones in Marseille, where very weak thermals predominate, the heat and unstable weather in which you can be hot in the morning and rain in the afternoon. late”.
The objective of Lamadrid, who with sixth place in the European Championship last May in Greece earned the right to represent Spain in the dress rehearsal for the Games this summer, is to assimilate the conditions of the Olympic venue to the time to recover optimal form with his mind set on the World Championship in August in the Netherlands, where he will seek a Spanish passport for the Games.
“There we go, little by little, getting used to the Mediterranean wave, completely different from the one we have in Cádiz, and sailing through the regatta areas that are already stipulated, which will probably be the closest to land. Here we will be training in a first block until June 16 and then we will return for a week to rest at home for the next block to stay three weeks in Marseille until the end of the Test event, which will have the same program as the Games »clarifies the Andalusian windsurfer, who after the forced break after the European Championship hopes to leave behind the physical discomfort that took its toll at the end of the first part of a quite successful course, as attested by her privileged position in the international ranking. In fact, apart from competing in the final series of the European Championship for the third consecutive year, Lamadrid achieved up to three international victories at the start of the course: the Bahía de Cádiz New Year’s Regatta, the Lanzarote iQFoil Games and the Olympic Week in Andalusia.
“Little by little I am recovering from everything suffered during the season, although the best thing is that we have time until the World Cup to feel well. For now, we are on the right track.”concludes the current Spanish champion of the iQFoil class.
