10 THINGS ABOUT QUERALT CASTELLET: STANDARD BEARER OF THE 2022 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES
I'm sure many of you know who we're talking about when I say Queralt Castellet. The snowboarder who is on the lips of all lovers of this sport and who will represent us at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. She is a professional at halfpipe, a discipline that consists of sliding your board down a U-shaped slope. If you want to know a little more about her, we recommend you continue reading. You're going to freak out!
STANDARD BEARER OF THE WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES IN BEIJING 2022
Castellet led the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing 2022 together with his fellow snowboarder, Ander Mirambell . The Catalan assured that she was very excited about this fact: "when they called me to tell me that I was going to be the flag bearer in Beijing, I couldn't believe it." She was already a standard bearer at the Vancouver Games in 2014 and in 2022 she repeated leading the Spanish athletes.
HOW WERE YOUR BEGINNINGS IN SPORTS?
The truth is that at first the athlete had her heart divided between snowboarding and artistic gymnastics. Her time at the latter was not superficial: she became runner-up on the balance beam! Since she was 4 years old, she dedicated herself to combining these two passions. Finally, it seems that snowboarding was his priority since he only showed up to artistic gymnastics competitions with hardly any training because during the week he was enjoying his board. His gymnastics coach assures that from the beginning he began to improve his acrobatic part. According to Queralt, he was lucky enough to go to a school with a program that allowed him to carry out his studies while attending his daily training sessions.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THE DISCIPLINE OF THE HALFPIPE?
At first, Queralt had only seen a few videos of this discipline and decided to give it a try since it seemed like an easy move to perform. However, when he tried to perform the first few tricks he realized that it would take longer than expected. When he did, the feeling was beastly!
HOW HAS YOUR OLYMPIC CAREER BEEN?
The road to success in the Olympics has progressively improved since its debut in Turin 2006 with good results, placing 26th in the discipline of halfpipe. Four years later, he returned to participate in the Vancouver 2010 races with the bad luck of a bad fall that prevented him from obtaining the medals for which he was competing. Queralt did not give up despite the injury and in Pyeongchang 2018 she made her best marks, finishing seventh in the final and receiving the Olympic diploma.
She has two medals: a silver one in 2015 and a bronze one that she recently won, both at the Snowboard World Championships.
FROM SABADELL TO NEW ZEALAND
By surprise for his family and his coach, Queralt decided to move to New Zealand because at that time the SnowPark track in this country was a dream for any sports fan. However, it was not only the sport that led him to move to this place, but also his relationship with Ben. When I arrived at the SnowPark, many people thought that Queralt called herself "beautiful" because that was what her partner called her. He was only 20 years old when he arrived! As the snowboarder says, it was his partner who convinced him that he could compete and win against the best.
WHAT WAS THE WORST STAGE FOR CASTELLET?
Ben was diagnosed with an illness and had to stay in New Zealand to care for himself. Queralt confesses that at that time he spent most of his time in the mountains with his board and later told Ben about all the tricks he had pulled. The woman from Sabadell confesses that it was her best moment as a rider.
When Ben dies for Castellet the world stops, including snowboarding.
THE SECOND WOMAN IN THE WORLD TO IRON A 1080
Being the second woman in the world to board a 1080 is a milestone in snowboarding history that happened in February 2012 during the Burton Canada Open. Up until the time Castellet got it, it had only been done by Kelly Clark.
WHO ARE THE LEADERS OF CASTELLET?
If he had to stay with someone who served as an inspiration to him throughout the years, it has been the Australian Torah Bright, who coincidentally is Ben's sister.
In his early days in the snow world, when he wanted to take his first turns, he looked at the professional Iker Fernández, in which he appeared with professionals of the caliber of Michi Albin or Terje Hakonsenen. Although he has also learned from other greats such as Kazu Kokubo, Danny Davis or Christian Haller.
HOW DOES THE ATHLETE TRAIN?
In their sports routines, stretching, yoga and joint mobility are essential. The goal for her is for the body to work in harmony since for the discipline of halfpipe all the muscles are needed to be on her side, both elastic and energetic.
Another of the tricks that have made her one of the best snowboarders in the world is doing exercises that simulate being on one of her boards. Such as squats, shoulder mobility, combinations of both…
And even with all this training, when he finishes one of his competitions, he can spend an hour stretching or doing cardio on a stationary bike.
WHAT DOES CASTELLET EXPECT FROM THE FUTURE?
The snowboarder hopes for her future to play a role in improving her sport. She believes that her experience will make her grow and she is confident that soon we will see her again conquering the podiums in the different championships.
As we can see, we still have a lot to enjoy in Spanish snowboarding with the face of Queralt Castellet. Castellet is an example of self-improvement, passion for nature and sport. In addition, it will be the flag bearer for Spain in the next Winter Olympic Games. After learning a little more about her, it's clear that she's going for it!
