Sarai Gascón: "I want to position myself among the best to get a 'run' ahead of Paris"

MADRID, 22 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Spanish swimmer Sarai Gascón is clear that she wants to position herself "among the best" in her sport in 2023, a "very important year for the celebration of the World Cup in Manchester (United Kingdom), to "get a 'run'" ahead of the Games Paralympics in Paris in 2024 in which he dreams of winning gold, a medal he lacks and a "difficult" challenge, but for which he will seek to bring out his "best version".

"This Paralympic cycle is shorter, only three years. 2023 will be very important, we have the World Cup in Manchester at the end of July, and that's where the places for the Paris Games will be obtained. We have to be very strong and try to make good marks in the face to 2024, with the most important competition for an athlete," Gascón said in an interview with Europa Press, after receiving her diploma as a scholarship holder from the Spanish Paralympic Committee (CPE) and the Fundación Iberdrola España.

However, the Manchester World Cup is not the only motivation for Gascón, who will prepare "other tests" in which he has "options" of success. "You should never let opportunities pass you by," he stressed, although he repeated that his "objective is to get a medal in the World Cup." "If it can be more than one, the better. I want to position myself among the best to already take a 'run' for Paris," wished the swimmer, who has the Olympic gold between her eyebrows.

"It's the medal I'm missing, I know it's very difficult, but why not. I'm training to achieve my best performance, my best personal bests, to give my best version. But I can't control what the rest of the swimmers do I hope that good training is combined with good luck and I can get that gold", he said firmly.

The 30-year-old Catalan swimmer already boasts a silver in Beijing 2008, a silver and a bronze in London 2012, three silver in Rio 2016 and a silver and a bronze in Tokyo 2020. In addition, in 2022 she showed that she can continue competing with the best, collecting five medals, two silver (200 meters medley and mixed 4x100 medley relay) and three bronze (50 and 100 freestyle and mixed 4x100 freestyle relay); all this in the category of physical disability S9 of her in the World Cup in Funchal (Portugal).

An example that he has not lost motivation, "at the top" despite having been in the pool for more than 20 years. "New, younger rivals have emerged, I am becoming more veteran, something that also has its good point. I try to take advantage of all the good things I have learned in these years, applying it in training and competitions to continue improving. I always say that in swimming everything is decided in tenths and I will try to do everything possible to continue getting on the podium", he explained.

Although, Gascón acknowledged that "sometimes the motivation wanes a bit, because every year is the same." "It helps me to set short-term objectives. For example, not thinking only about the World Cup this year, also about the fact that in a month there will be the Spanish Championship. Also technical objectives, nerves, and the sum of all that will make me have everything controlled and keep that motivation", he related about his way of continuing to enjoy swimming day by day.

"Whenever I compete in an important event I get super nervous, it's difficult to control those nerves, although they are partly good because they give you that point of adrenaline. But they can play a trick on you. I've been competing for 21 years and I still get nervous, we we play it all in a minute, it is normal that these nerves appear", he affirmed.

Her veteran status and her greater experience allow her to assess the management of Paralympic swimming in recent years. And the Catalan, who recalled that the ADOP Program did not exist when it began - it started in 2004 -, she highlighted the private contribution of companies such as Iberdrola or AXA. "The AXA Foundation helps a lot to promises who want to participate in big tournaments. It gives resources, creates competitions, so that swimmers meet their goals", she emphasized.

And one of those promises of Spanish Paralympic swimming is Anastasiya Dmytriv from Almería, world champion of 100 breaststroke at the age of 13 in the last World Cup. "I feel reflected in her. I also started very 'young', at the age of 14 she was world champion and she has a very long way to go, the important thing is that she enjoys herself, she is already a good athlete. That she continues to achieve goals, but without put too much pressure", advised Gascón to the new hope of adapted swimming.

Finally, the Catalan commented on her other vocation, teaching, since she has studied Early Childhood Education, a training that she now wants to complement as a Primary teacher. "I always thought that when I retired I wouldn't know if I would continue to enjoy my day to day, but Early Childhood Education has enchanted me. I spent six months in a school and I enjoyed them very much. I was able to combine it well, although they were very hard months," he concluded.