Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics begin

Beijing 2022 kicks off this Friday with a opening ceremony to be held at 1:00 p.m. (Basque time). Imanol Rojo (cross-country skiing), Adur Etxezarreta and Manex Salsamendi (alpine skiing) will enter the competition on Sunday the 6th, while Lucas Eguibar (snowboard) will not make his debut until Thursday the 10th.

LUCAS EGUIBAR

Sport: Snowboarding

Donostia, 02-09-1994

The current world champion He started skiing at the age of 2 with his parents, and at the age of 5 he began to compete in alpine skiing. While she was preparing, she started to like snowboarding and decided to learn it when she was 7 years old, having her mother as a teacher. He continued to compete in skiing until he was 15 years old, at which time he entered the Spanish snowboard championships and obtained very good results.

In 2012 he won the European circuit and in 2013 he made his first podium in the World Cup, he was 3rd in the Arosa station, Switzerland, and Junior World Champion in Turkey.

He obtained the diploma for his 7th place, in Sochi, in his first Olympic Games. In 2015 he was the snowboardcross World Cup champion. Two years later, at the 2017 Sierra Nevada World Championship, he won two silver medals in the snowboardcross category; one in individual competition and another for teams.

In 2020, although his season was reduced by the coronavirus pandemic, Lucas Eguibar won the Sierra Nevada World Cup. However, the best was yet to come. Lucas achieved glory in February 2021 at the Idre Fjäll World Cup (Sweden) by winning a heart-stopping final decided with the photo-finish.

Eguibar is one of the favorites to get on the podium at the Beijing 2022 Games.

Calendar

February 10: Snowboardcross, qualifying and final.

RED IMANOL

Toulouse, 11-30-1990

Sport: Cross-country skiing

At the age of five he started skiing with his older brother, Ioseba, who is now his technician, and so far he hasn’t gotten off his skis. At the age of 11 he began to compete with the Uzturre Elkartea Alpine team and the results achieved up to the age of 15 allowed him to enter the national cross-country ski team in 2005.

He has participated in different international competitionsEuropean Cup, World Cup, World Cup and the most important, the 2014 Olympics in Sochi (Russia) and the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018. In Russia he participated in the skiathlon events (50th place), 1.4 km sprint (position 60), 15 kilometers classic (position 50) and mass start 50 kilometers (position 33).

In Korea he competed in skiathlon (49th place), 15km freestyle (62nd place), 50km mass start (35th place) and team sprint (19th place).

Calendar

February 6: Skiathlon 15km + 15km

February 11: 15km classic style

Feb 19: 50km freestyle mass start

ADUR ETXEZARRETA

Sport: Alpine skiing

Donostia, 01-27-1996

Although he was born in San Sebastián, he considers himself to be from the Navarran town of Areso, where he has lived most of his life.

Fast trial specialist active since January 2012, Etxezarreta he debuted in the European Cup on December 21, 2017. It comes from signing a historic start to the year. On January 14, 2022, he got his first European Cup podium finish (2nd) downhill in Tarvisio, making a time of 1:47.71 to cover 3300 meters. He is the first at the state level to obtain a medal in this modality.

These will be his first games Olympics.

Calendar

February 6: Relegation

February 8: Super Giant

MANEX SALSAMENDI

Rio Branco (Brazil), 07-24-2002

Sport: Cross-country skiing

Manex Salsamendi Silva was born in the north of Brazil and arrived in Isaba when he was eight years old. There he met and began to practice cross-country skiing with his father, Aitor Salsamendi.

Trained in the discipline of the Club Pirineos de Roncal as a cross-country skier, at the age of 19 he faces the first Olympic event of his career sporty.

Calendar

February 6: Skiathlon 15km +15km

February 8: Freestyle sprint, qualifying and finals

February 11: 15km classic style

Feb 19: 50km freestyle mass start