The successes of Spanish women's sport in 2022

MADRID, 31 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Spanish women's sport continues to be at a high level and in 2022 it has already given many joys, both in Olympic and non-Olympic modalities, with well-known names such as Queralt Castellet, Teresa Portela or Sandra Sánchez, and others that are breaking in like Laura Fuertes, María Corbera or Araceli Navarro.

In a year where there were Olympic Games, in this case the Winter Games, Spain had an indisputable protagonist thanks to the Catalan 'rider' Queralt Castellet, who finally achieved her pursued dream of getting on the Olympic podium.

The woman from Sabadell, in her fifth Games, shone with a sensational silver medal in the 'halfpipe' modality, the first metal for a Spanish woman since Blanca Fernández-Ochoa's historic bronze in 1992. In addition, the Catalan also won the runner-up at the X-Games.

Canoeing has had a spectacular year and its female athletes have had a lot to do with it, with a special mention for María Corbera, who won five between the World Cup, silver C-1 200 and bronze in C-1 5000, and the European, gold in C-1 500 and 5000 and his silver with Antía Jacome in C-2 500.

The veteran Teresa Portela showed that she is still very competitive and achieved another great success, a world silver with Sara Ouzande in the K-2 200. Isabel Contreras (K-1 1000), the couple Laia Pelachs and Begoña Lazkano (K-2 1000) and Eva Barrios (K-1 5000) also made the continental podium as bronze medalists.

Two other protagonists of this 2022 have been the boxer Laura Fuertes and the fencer Araceli Navarro, who achieved very relevant successes in boxing and fencing, respectively. The Asturian boxer became the first woman to win a medal, a bronze in -50 kilos, in a World Cup, while the Madrid boxer signed the same success in the World Championship in the saber modality, the first World Cup medal for a woman since 1997 (Taymi Chappé).

2022 was the last sporting year for a figure like Sandra Sánchez from La Mancha, who finished off winning the last international title she needed, that of World Games champion. María Torres from Malaga also shone there, silver in kumite 68 kilos.

Months earlier, in Turkey, the woman from Talavera had not failed in the European Championship either, with her seventh consecutive gold in an event where the kata teams (María López, Lidia Rodríguez and Raquel Roy) and kumite (María Espinosa, Carlota Fernández, María Nieto and María Torres) were silver and bronze in the European, respectively.

Without leaving contact sports, Madrid taekwondo athlete Adriana Cerezo, Olympic silver medalist at just 17 years old in 2021, won bronze in -49 kilos in a European Championship that crowned Jone Magdaleno (-62) and Cecilia as European champions Castro (-67), and as runner-up to Alma Pérez, silver (-53). Castro also shone at the World Cup with the only medal, a bronze, from the women's delegation.

Another Olympic medalist in Tokyo, such as the shooter Fátima Gálvez, also got back on the podium of a major international event by proclaiming herself world runner-up in the pit category, also winning the ticket for the Paris Games.

The badminton player Carolina Marín also did not miss her appointment with the podium, who after her serious knee injury was proclaimed European champion for the sixth time in Madrid, while athletics had the walker Raquel González and the marathon team formed by Marta Galimany, Elena Loyo, Irene Pelayo and Laura Méndez as protagonists in the European with their respective silvers.

In swimming, there was world bronze for the artistic team made up of Cristina Arambula, Abril Conesa, Berta Ferreras, Emma García, Mireia Hernández, Meritxell Mas, Alisa Ozhogina, Paula Ramírez, Iris Tió and Blanca Toledano in 'highlights', and European silvers for María Valdés, in the 5 km of open water, and Emma García together with Pau Ribes, in the two duo modalities.

In judo, the Andalusian judoka Julia Figueroa was continental bronze (-48 kilos), while the Extremadura weightlifter María José Giménez-Güervos Pérez was European bronze in the Olympic total category of 49 kilos, with bronze also in snatch and silver in two times.

In addition, in sailing, Támara Echegoyen and Paula Barceló finished third in the FX class World Championship, Nora Brugman was world and European silver with Jordi Xammar in the 470, and Gisela Pulido signed the same result in the European Formula Kite, while Other successes in 2022 came from, in cycling, Natalia Fischer, European champion in the XC Marathon modality, and Vera Barón, world runner-up in trial, Stefy Navarro, world runner-up in parkour, and María Xiao , together with the Romanian Adina Diaconu, bronze in mixed doubles of the European Table Tennis Championships.

In the Petanque World Cup, Sara Díaz and Aure Blázquez won gold, and Díaz was also silver with Javier Cardeña, while skating shone at the World Games in Argentina with Natalia Baldizzone, Lidia Mateo, Mery Muñoz, Luisa González, Sira Bella, Bohdana Hotsko, Carla Escrich, Carla Martin and Paula Royo.

Finally, in the world of motoring, the driver from Burgos Cristina Gutiérrez stood out, who was proclaimed, together with the Frenchman Sebastien Loeb, E Extreme world champion, a competition category of electric off-road cars. Laia Sanz, together with Carlos Sainz, finished third. Daniela Guillén and Gabriela Seisdedos achieved the team victory for the first time for Spain in the Motocross of Nations.

2022 also had the Mediterranean Games, where women's sport shone with medals for Alba Pinilla, Alba Petisco, Maia Llacer, Claudia Villalba, Emma Fernández, Laura Casabuena, Lorena Medina, Lydia Pérez, Marina Rueda, Ana Pérez, Jessica Bouzas-Guiomar Maristany, Beatriz Corrales, Laura Redondo, Ai Tsunoda, Elia Canales, Leyre Fernández, Lidón Muñoz, Alba Vázquez, Atenery Hernández, Sandra Alonso, Tessy Ebosele, Marta López, Laura Fuertes, Lidón Muñoz, África Zamorano, Marina García, Carla Hurtado, Adriana Cerezo, Cecilia Castro, Carmen Weiler and María Teresa Díaz.