SPAIN has now scooped up two medals in the PyeongChang Winter Paralympics – a bronze in snowboard won by Astrid Fina Paredes, and a silver for Jon Santacana Maiztegui and his guide Miguel Galindo in the Supercombined downhill skiing.
Barcelona-born Astrid (first picture, by the International Olympic Committee) came third in the snowboard cross yesterday (Monday) after a downhill battle against The Netherlands' Renske van Beek in the SB-LL2 category, with the gold and silver going to two other Dutch competitors, Bibian Mentel-Spee and Lisa Bunschoten respectively.
Although Astrid said she was 'afraid of not being able to achieve her goal' of a medal, once it was confirmed she had come third she said she 'could not believe it'.
“On the downhill stretch, I wanted to be safe, so I didn't go all out to the death; I wanted to make sure I didn't fall and the other rider [Renske] didn't get past me,” Astrid said afterwards.
“It's true that I had a few tense moments where I was thinking, don't lose your cool, it's going to be okay – that's thanks to the work of my psychologist.”
She has made history, not only as the first medal-winner of the 2018 Winter Paralympics, but as the first Spaniard ever to earn a medal in a Paralympics for snowboarding.
And today (Tuesday), Jon Santacana and Miguel Galindo (second picture) finished the pairs 'super-giant' in a time of one minute, 27.34 seconds, finishing third behind the Slovak duo Maros Hudik and Miroslav Haraus, who came first, and their compatriots Jakub Krako and Branislav Brozman, who finished second.
This was in the first leg, which saw two of the favourites – Canada's Mac Marcoux and Italy's Giacomo Bertagnolli – eliminated after falls on the first slope.
In the second leg, the slalom, Santacana and Galindo's time of 47.79 seconds was only 0.91 seconds behind winners Hudik and Miroslav, giving Spain a silver medal to add to Astrid's bronze.
Santacana and Galindo were just ahead of bronze-winners Valerii Redkozubov and Eugeny Geroev, from Russia.
This is the Spanish pair's fourth Winter Paralympics together, and they have each won six medals in the games – two golds and two silvers.
In the main Winter Olympics last month, Spain won two bronze medals thanks to Regino Hernández in boardercross and Javier Fernández in figure skating, whilst snowboard rider Queralt Castellet failed to make it to the podium in halfpipe despite valiant efforts.
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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