“Being in the Games is a dream, having only two years I have reached very high”

The Spanish skater Daniel Milagros is clear that it is “a dream and something incredible” that he will participate next February in Milan (Italy) in his first Winter Olympic Games and after having been in the ice speed modality for a very short time and with his sights more focused on the 2030 event.

“For me it is a dream to be in the Olympic Games, it is something incredible that the truth is that I had never thought I could achieve because in the beginning my sport has always been roller speed skating, which is not Olympic unfortunately and it was not until two years ago that they proposed to me to start with the project and a little focused on reaching the Games,” Milagros told the media after skating on the rink installed by Atlético de Madrid at the Riyadh Air Metropolitan Stadium and which is the largest in Europe.

The Navarrese, who will compete in the 1,000 meters, recalled that the Olympic goal had always seemed like something super complicated to him, but that “having been practicing sports for so long, even though it was with wheels,” has allowed him “to be able to get there a little bit faster than normal.” “And well, thanks also to the entire staff, the federation and all my teammates, obviously Nil (Llop). I have been able to get there and for me it is something incredible, really,” he admitted.

Now, “for now,” he is “assimilating it a little” and hasn’t thought about much else. “At first I didn’t believe it much. Now, after it has been official and after doing acts like this and seeing all the congratulations from people, I’m starting to see that this is real and that February 11 is going to arrive,” he commented.

“I’m looking forward to facing the 49 days that I have left, if I’m not mistaken. Train to the maximum, be able to do the best job I can and without forgetting that this is an opportunity to continue and reach another Olympic cycle, which I think is a bit what could be my goal, since in the end after only two years I have reached very high. I can still go further and give my best version,” he added in this regard.

Milagros warned that the training she has undergone and continues to undergo “is very hard.” “This last year we have tried to do everything possible to reach our best version. This year we had to go to Andorra to do many hours of cycling at altitude and I think that has been a bit the hardest. And then, the gym work outside the track, because just as in other sports perhaps the work is more specific, we have that handicap that we do not always have an ice rink. In Spain we don’t have one and we always have to be outside.”

“Now, for example, that we are here in Spain, the training we do has to be everything we call ‘off-skate’, which is work with shoes, in the gym, on the bike, and a little looking for a life so that we can then be in the best shape in the competitions,” added the Navarrese.

“I ADAPT VERY FAST TO SPORTS”

He recalled that ice speed skating “is not a very popular sport in Spain” and that he came to practice it thanks to Nil Llop and the Catalan Federation, entering “a project that was already started.” “I adapt very quickly to sports and I have played many sports throughout my life, such as basketball, soccer or handball. My physical trainer saw that I could have projection and that there was already a project, and I started,” he said.

“I immediately improved a lot, I made the minimum of what was my category at the time, neo-senior, and the federation trusted me the following year to spend the entire season training outside and I think that is what has made that opportunity able to grow so quickly,” said Milagros, runner-up in the world roller skating champion and who will compete in the Olympic 1,000 meters on February 11.

Before that and after resting for “four days” because it has been “non-stop since August,” they resumed training again, already noticing “the soreness.” “Now what we propose is first a few days in Spain doing a lot of cycling, gym, off-skating, and then on January 4 we travel to Poland and we are there for a week preparing for the European Championship. From there, to Inzell (Austria), where we have the fifth round of the World Cup, which is a qualifier for the World Cup and which helps me maintain the competitive level. Then we travel to Milan for the Games,” he said.