MADRID, 31 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Sport for people with disabilities has also produced many successes in 2022, thanks to well-known names such as the cyclist Ricardo Ten, the triathlete Susana Rodríguez, the swimmer Marta Fernández or the tennis player Martín de la Puente, who once again demonstrated the potential of our country.
Without a doubt, cycling, triathlon and swimming, three of the most powerful sports, were the most successful, starting with the first, which was led by a sensational Ricardo Ten, who once again established himself as one of the best in the track and on asphalt.
In the velodrome, the Valencian was proclaimed world champion in pursuit, scratch and omnium and runner-up in the kilometer, while on the road he donned the rainbow jersey in the road race and bronze in the time trial. He also achieved a gold and a silver in a European where Spain got a total of 13 metals, with Sergio Garrote also European champion in his road test.
In addition, in the Road World Championship, gold medalists Eduardo Santas y Garrote, and bronzes Gonzalo García Abella and the ‘Team Relay’ (Martín Berchesi, Luis Miguel García-Marquina y Garrote), and bronzes for Santas, Garrote and García Abella, while the track rider, Santas (silver in the scratch and bronze in the omnium) and Maurice Eckhard (bronze in the scratch) also added medals.
Spain also demonstrated its current strength in paratriathlon, led by Susana Rodríguez who, along with Sara Loehr, continues to give her rivals no respite and who in 2022 continued unbeaten again, reissuing her world and European title.
In addition, the young Andrea Miguélez and Dani Molina also signed the European-World Cup double, while Rakel Mateo was continental silver, Lionel Morales world silver and European bronze, Marta Francés European silver and world bronze, and Kini Carrasco, European bronze.
Swimming continues to be a breeding ground for successes and this was again demonstrated at the World Cup in Madeira (Portugal), where he collected 29 medals, seven of them gold thanks to Toni Ponce (2), who won a total of six medals, Marta Fernández (2), Michelle Alonso, Nuria Marquès and the very young Anastasiya Dmytriv. In addition, Sarai Gascón was the protagonist with her five medals, one more than those obtained by María Delgado.
For its part, wheelchair tennis also stood out thanks above all to Martín de la Puente who won his first ‘Grand Slam’ in doubles, the US Open with the Frenchman Nicolas Peifer, and the Masters with the Argentinean Gustavo Fernández, which allowed him to rise to the top of the world ranking.
He and Dani Caverzaschi were the first Spaniards to play in the individual draw of a ‘great’, at Roland Garros, where they reached the quarterfinals, and they were also proclaimed runner-up in the World Cup with the Spanish team with Madrid, Quico Tur and Kike siscar.
Table tennis was the protagonist since it had the World Championship at home, in Granada, where it won three metals: the silver of the couple formed by Iker Sastre and Miguel Ángel Toledo, and the bronzes of Eduardo Cuesta and the duo Álvaro Valera- Jordi Morales.
The Extremaduran paddler Juan Valle shone in this year 2022 with his two golds in the World and European Canoeing Championships, with the Biscayan Higinio Rivero also winning a valuable continental silver.
Paralympic shooting also gave medals with the world and European gold for Ager Solabarrieta and the continental silver for Sonia Rivero, both in prone 10m carbine, and the world silver for Adrián Becker in the pit, while in the European Weightlifting, Loida Zabala and David Gómez won gold in their respective categories, Montse Alcoba was silver, and the team formed by Zabala, Gómez and Isabel Fernández was bronze.
In addition, Daniel Gavilán won two bronzes in the European and Judo World Championships, Judith Rodríguez won the same metal in the European Fencing category and archery brought silver to Adrián Orjales and the compound open pair formed by Fernando Galé and Adrián Martínez. Dalia Santiago was runner-up in Europe in taekwondo.
In winter sports, the ‘rider’ Irati Idiákez won two silver medals in the Snowboard World Cup, and the skier Audrey Pascual, the protagonist of this issue, was proclaimed champion of the European Cup for the second time.
Pascual once again showed his versatility and competed in the Surfing World Cup, where he won a copper medal in an event where María Martín-Granizo was proclaimed world champion ahead of her compatriot Mireia Cabañes, Sarah Almagro hung a bronze and Ibon Oregui got another copper one.
On the other hand, at the team level, Amiab Albacete was proclaimed European wheelchair basketball champion for the first time in its history by beating Ilunion 78-64 in the final and Econy Gran Canaria won Eurocup 1. The futsal teams for the deaf were champions (boys) and runner-up (girls) in Europe, and the futsal team for short people was runner-up in the European Cup.
