Summarizing 2024, an Olympic year looking towards Los Angeles

It has flown by; 2024 was a year eagerly awaited by athletes, especially for the Balearic sailors and paddlers who dreamed of participating in the recent Olympic Games. A mass Olympics, unlike the previous ones deliberated in Tokyo in 2020, were held very close to home in Paris, Nice, and Marseille, and were also the first after the pandemic.

In the history of the Olympics, sailing has always been a safe bet for the Spanish Olympic team. And we all had our bets placed, as this Games featured young talents with immense promise. A very young Nacho Baltasar, a sailor from Club Nàutic Sa Ràpita, who at just 19 years old competed at the highest level in his first Olympics, in a class that, like him, debuted as an Olympic class in Marseille, the IQFoil class. Also, a young and tenacious Paula Barceló, a sailor from Club Nàutic S’Arenal, who along with her partner Támara Echegoyen had just missed out on a medal in the 49er FX class in Tokyo and was back to redeem herself. Unfortunately, in the end, neither of them secured the coveted medal, but they defended the Spanish and Balearic flags like no other, taking away the wonderful experience of having lived through an Olympics close to home, surrounded by their own, living with family and friends, supporting them very closely. Because the Spanish anthem did not play at the medal ceremony for these classes, but the ovation for our own throughout Marseille, with the voices of the hundreds of followers who traveled there to closely follow our own.

Canoeing is another sure value for the Spanish Olympic team and this time it was the tracks in Nice that gave us the Balearic medals. On one hand, we have the unstoppable Marcus Cooper, who also was our Spanish flag bearer at these Paris Olympics. Third Olympics and third medal for the paddler from the Portopetro club. After a heart-stopping final, the Spanish K4 500 composed of Marcus Cooper, Saúl Craviotto, Carlos Arévalo, and Rodrigo Germade won the bronze. Cooper tried to enlarge his record in K2 500 with his partner Adrián del Río, but ultimately, it was not possible.

The first medal for Spanish canoeing was won by another debutant at the Olympics, the paddler from Reial Club Nàutic Port de Pollença, Joan Antoni Moreno, and his partner Diego Domínguez in C2 500. The Mallorcan and the Madrilenian qualified in the morning in a meticulously scheduled semifinal. They knew that a fourth place in their series would leave them in the outer lane to face the final under the best conditions. In the final, only the Chinese pair managed a significant lead at the finish (1:39.48). On the arrival buoys, the final sprint was taken by the Italians Tachinni and Casadei, who took silver (1:41.08), while the Spaniards earned a well-deserved bronze (1:41.18) to leave the Russian pair of Petrov and Korovaskhov, who were podium favorites, in fourth place (1:41.27).

After these intense Paris 2024 Olympics, all athletes now have their sights set on the next destination: Los Angeles 2028. An Olympics where we might see Nacho Baltasar fighting for a medal again, new promises of Balearic sailing debuting in their first Games, and great legends like Marcus Cooper enlarging their record. Four years lie ahead, effort, preparation, and everything to define.