At The ‘sports center’ scene (subtract football, basketball and motorsport), 2021 has been a course of pleasant explosions. The Generation Z, that of athletes born in the late 1990s and early 2000s, He has shown his impudence with triumphs in junior categories but also in the absolute and professional field. These are some of the post-millennial Spaniards who poked their heads out.
-Carlos Alcaraz (tennis)
The 18-year-old from Murcia has anticipated his explosion. He won his first ATP tournament (Umag, Croatia), reached the US Open quarter-finals (withdrew due to injury) where he defeated world number three Stefanos Tsitsipas, He was proclaimed champion of the NextGen Masters (U21) and finished 32nd in the ATP rankings. The future is yours.
-Ane Mintegi (tennis)
In July and at the age of 17, the Gipuzkoan achieved proclaim herself the junior champion of Wimbledon, the first Spanish to achieve it. A title that his day also achieved Manolo Orantes and Alejandro Davidovich. Based in Barcelona and based in the TEC Carlos Ferrer Salat, in the Spanish Federation they have great confidence that he will soon give joys on the WTA circuit.
-Daniel Rincón (tennis)
The Avila conquered the US Open Junior at the age of 19, something that only Emilio Sánchez Vicario had achieved in 1986. A great friend of Carlos Alcaraz, he has been preparing at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor for three years. “Nadal talks about effort, movement, giving everything,” he says.
-Juan Ayuso (cycling)
Born in Barcelona and raised in Jávea (Alicante), Ayuso started 2021 in the Under-23 category in the ranks of Colpack but with only 19 years he has already finished it in the ranks of the professional World Tour team of the UAE of Tadej Pogacar. In the first part of the season, he scored six prestigious triumphs on the U-23 circuit: the Piva Trophy, the Belvedere Giro and the Baby Giro (first Spanish), plus three stages. It was also bronze in the European Under-23.
-Carlos Rodríguez (cycling)
The 20-year-old from Granada has lived his second season as a professional World Tour at the powerful Ineos. A complete cyclist who this year finished third in the National chrono, fourth in the Vuelta a Andalucía or second in the prestigious Tour del Porvenir, where he won the last stage. Pascual Momparler made him debut in the clock and bottom of the Flanders World Cup with the ‘majors’.
-Asier Martínez (athletics)
The 21-year-old hurdler from Zizur Mayor (Navarra) was one of the most pleasant surprises in Spanish athletics this year. At 1.90 m and almost 80 kilos, he dazzled with a sixth place in the 110-meter hurdles final of the Tokyo Olympics. At Nacional, he was second after his great idol, Orlando Ortega.
-Tessy Ebosele (athletics)
The 19-year-old jumper was proclaimed European Sub-20 runner-up in length and later, in the World Cup in the same category, achieved silver in triple jump finished fifth also in length. His family comes from Nigeria, was born in Morocco and arrived in Spain by boat when he was a year and a half. He has joined the ‘Team Pedroso’ in Guadalajara.
-Adi Iglesias (athletics)
The Paralympic athlete (22 years old) achieved gold in 100 and silver in 400 meters at the Tokyo Games. Persecuted for her albinism in Mali (which leads to a reduction in her vision, which in her case only reaches 20%), she had to flee her country and was adopted in Lugo by a teacher, María Lina Iglesias, who gave her a second life .
-Adriana Cerezo (taekwondo)
The Madrilenian, pure cheek, achieved the first medal for Spain in the Tokyo Games. His 17-year-old silver boosted the team. She had just been proclaimed absolute European champion and in 2019 she had reached the European Under-21 at the age of 16. A natural talent that Jesús Ramal has been able to polish at the Hankuk in San Sebastián de los Reyes.
-Alberto Ginés (climbing)
Sport climbing debuted in Tokyo, to a great audience success, and Cacereño proclaimed himself the first Olympic champion at the age of 18. Before, he had won continental silver. The most natural champion now yearns to have good facilities in Spain so that the sport can grow.
-Joan Cardona (candle)
The Menorcan sailor took bronze at the Tokyo Games in the Finn class at the age of 23, a modality that disappears in Paris 2024 so it will try to compete in Laser. The one from Mahón was endorsed by his world championship and his great love of the sea. With only a few months to live, he was already on a sailboat.
-Elena Ruiz (water polo)
The CN Rubí player was the big surprise on Miki Oca’s list for the Tokyo Games, to which he attended when he was only 17 years old. In October, together with his sister Ariadna (19), he led the junior team to world gold in Israel.
-Nicolás García (swimming)
The Madrid native was a finalist in 200 backstrokes at the Games at the age of 18. He entered with fifth place and finished eighth. The Gredos San Diego swimmer will travel to Virginia in January to enroll in the powerful US university swimming with Spanish coach Sergi López, a medalist in Seoul 1988.
-Caetano Horta-Manel Balastegui (rowing)
The two rowers they won the final B of the Tokyo Games with very few months to join (Balastegui achieved the place with Rodrigo Conde) and they achieved an Olympic diploma by being seventh in the global of the light double scull. The Galician Horta (Noya, 18 years old) was the youth European champion in 2020 and the Catalan Balastegui (Llado, Girona, 22 years old) had been the U23 world champion in 2018.
-Antía Jácome (canoeing)
The Pontevedra will have a lot to say in Paris 2024 after being fifth in the C1 200 in the premiere of the women’s canoe in a Games with only 21 years. “I don’t feel like I lost a medal, but I won a fifth place,” he said. At the age of 15 she went to the CEAR in La Cartuja (Seville) and was a pioneer in some Games.
-Alex Graneri (canoeing).
The Spaniard won the K1 1,000 and K1 500 Junior World Cups at the age of 18 at the beginning of September. A super double. He has shared many hours in Trasona (Asturias) with Saúl Craviotto’s K4 and warns that in Paris 2024 he will go “for all”.
-Álvaro Romero (snowboard)
The Donostiarra took the bronze in boardercross at the Krasnoyarsk Junior World Cups (Russia) in March at the age of 17. This year he also finished fifth in the European Cup in Isola 2000 (France) and first in the FIS event in Reiteralm (Austria). Follow in the footsteps of his countryman Lucas Eguibar.
-Igor Bellido (triathlon)
The sevillian he won junior world gold in Quarteira (Portugal) in November, previously won by Mario Mola and Fernando Alarza. He is 19 years old and has a scholarship at the Blume in Madrid. Already without Gómez Noya in Olympic distance, he will soon assault World Cup events.
-Ai Tsudona (judo)
With a Japanese father and a French mother, both high-level judokas, but born in Lleida where her parents run a gym, Ai (19 years old) chose to compete for Spain and since she received nationality in 2019 she has not stopped winning. The latest, the Junior World -70 kg in October.
-Daniela Álvarez and Sofía González (beach volleyball).
The Gijonese Álvarez (20 years old) was going to be a professional tennis player and beach volleyball crossed her, which she no longer left. The Malaga-born González (20) ruled out basketball and is in the permanent concentration of the Federation in Lorca (Murcia). Together, they were proclaimed U21 world runners-up in Thailand this month.