Spanish archery is once again represented at the Olympic Games by Elia Canales and Pablo Acha, both in individual recurve and also as a mixed team, two debutants in the French capital in search of the dream, especially the Catalan one, of a medal that only Spain tasted in 1992.
To date, only Carlos Holgado, Alfonso Menéndez and Antonio Vázquez have achieved glory at the Olympics, with the surprising team gold in Barcelona’92, a feat that no other national archer has yet been able to replicate in a sport dominated with an iron fist by South Korea, which usually leaves little room for other countries.
In the men’s individual category, Pablo Acha from Burgos, European champion in 2021, is attending his first Games after being chosen by the Royal Spanish Archery Federation (RFETA) after the end of the qualifying process to designate the two places that Spain had after the European Games in Krakow (Poland) last year thanks to the mixed team gold of Elia Canales and Miguel Alvariño.
Acha was already in the running to participate in Tokyo three years ago, a prize that finally went to Daniel Castro, and now he has found a reward for his efforts, with the added bonus of Miguel Alvariño, one of the reasons why the Spanish goalkeeper had two places in the French capital and who announced in March that he was stopping competing to take care of his mental health.
The Castilian-Leonese athlete, 27 years old and 22nd in the world ranking for recurve archery, hopes to perform at a good level as in 2023 at the European Games where he won individual bronze and team silver. In addition, in 2021, in Antalya (Turkey), he was European recurve champion and runner-up in a mixed team where he formed with a very young Elia Canales.
The Tarragona native was then 20 years old and was already considered one of the great talents of national archery, supported by her silver medal at the Youth Olympic Games held in Buenos Aires in 2018.
From there, her record has continued to grow until she has become one of the best in the world in recurve bow, as reinforced by her current number five in the world ranking, which increases hopes of a great result in Paris in a sport where concentration and aim play a key role.
In addition, months before this event, she was close to being proclaimed individual European champion in Essen (Germany), a prize that she lost to the German Katharina Bauer. Last year, apart from the aforementioned gold in mixed teams with Miguel Alvariño, she also won silver in the individual competition.
2024-07-21 21:41:32
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