SPAIN has won its first Winter Olympic medal in 26 years – Regino Hernández has netted the bronze in boardercross.
The snowboarder, from the Spanish-owned city-province of Ceuta on the northern Moroccan coast just across the water from Gibraltar is only the third Spaniard ever to win a Winter Olympic medal, after the Fernández Ochoa siblings did so 20 years apart.
Paco Fernández Ochoa – who would have been 68 this year, but died from cancer in 2006 - took the gold in slalom skiing 46 years ago in Sapporo, Japan and his sister Blanca scooped up the bronze in the same discipline 26 years ago in Albertville, France.
Regino, who came third in a final won by France's Pierre Vaultier, has made Spanish sporting history since, although the country has a very strong team competing in Pyeongchang at the moment, luck has not been on their side.
Fellow boardercross riders, Basque-born Lucas Eguibar – the flag-bearer in the opening ceremony – and Cantabria's Laro Herrer were both eliminated before the quarter-final.
Ander Mirambell, in skeleton, said his time in the second of four rounds was his best all season, but he still failed to make the top 20 to guarantee him a place in the third and fourth rounds.
Halfpipe rider Queralt Castellet was Spain's first medal hopeful, especially when she made it to the finals of a competition where the standard was incredibly high.
A first run ended on 59 points, somewhere around the middle of the table which was topped by US riders in the 80s and 90s.
In the second, despite clocking up a 1080, Queralt was only awarded 67 points as the judges considered her landing was below par, and in the third and final round, she crashed out with just 42 points.
This left her a long way down the rankings which, with a staggering 93 points, saw the USA's South Korea-born Chloe Kim take the gold.
Spain's strongest Winter Olympic contender will not be in the limelight until the weekend – figure-skater Javier Fernández, twice-world champion and having recently scooped up his sixth European championship on the trot, the 'ace on ice' has earned himself the nickname 'SuperJavi' and is the favourite to win the only gold medal that his vast collection is lacking.
SPAIN'S last-minute win against England in the 2024 UEFA Euros comes on the 60th anniversary of the country's first-ever title in the much-followed competition – and has broken numerous records, too.
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