This is Carrasco, the ‘grandfather’ of paratriathlon on a (almost) impossible European mission

Joaquin ‘Kini’ Carrasco, (Cáceres, 1965) He loves the sport that he has been training on a professional level for 40 years and that, along with his grandson and the Extremadura Medal, they make you happy in life. At age 20, an accident caused him to lose his left arm. After the natural doubts that troubled his head, the sport was his extra energy to enjoy life.

The European Multisport Triathlon in Bilbao Bizkaia: A challenge worth very little

One of the dates on Kini’s calendar, the paratriathlon’s dubbed ‘grandfather’ at age 57, is Bilbao Bizkaia Multisport Triathlon European Championship where it is proposed to complete the five exams that make up the event in its category (Duathlon, Cros Duathlon, Aquathlon, Cros Triathlon and Medium Distance) and all of them in just eight days (September 17 to 24, 2022).

Regarding the event which will bring together 3,000 athletes from across the continent and with several European titles at stake, he said that “I love it, and it’s good that people are encouraged to participate from the experience in progress. with the optimal number of athletes and all modalities of the triathlon.In addition, when performed in different locations (Bilbao, Getxo-Portugalete, Enkarterri-Balmaseda, Urdaibai-Bermeo) it’s fun to get to know all of Bizkaia ”.

It itself knows what a Multisport Championship. “I am in Ibiza 2018, also in Romania 2019 and my challenge is to complete all the disciplines that make up European”.

He invites all paratriathletes who are unsure whether to attend a European Championship like this to register, telling them that “fear must be left in the bottle. Multisport is a great sporting celebration, in this case. the triathlon, with its beautiful environment of competing and exchanging experiences, is something that should be enjoyed once in a lifetime ”.

From basketball to athletics to reign in triathlon

The man from Extremadura began his career in sports that excels in basketball, a discipline he reached after combining some basketball skills with his 179 centimeters when he was just 14 years old. That he got the Caceres notice him and make his debut in what will be EBA League. His development was delayed by military service and the accident certainly ended in his separation from the world of basket.

His enthusiasm for the sport didn’t end there and he made the jump in athletics, his physical condition and his speed on the track got him to become a sprinter and get some good marks. One day he tried triathlon, although according to his confession “I like cycling and running I have good qualities, but I don’t know how to swim very well”. On his first adventure in Cangas he assured that “I had a bad time in the swim section, it was not easy to swim with one arm and I ended up disoriented, and on the other end of the finish line” – a story between laughs -. Again that didn’t take him away from his goal and he ended up being bitten by the paratriathlon bug to fall in love with it. “I’ve had 73 international outings (I don’t think no paratriathlete has done that) and I’ve achieved 53 podiums, I’m a three -time world champion and a European tetra.”

3 Paralympic Games and the illusion of returning to one Game after 24 years and to another sport

“I won the Spanish Championship and I got the minimum accessible Seoul ’88”. Not getting the expected result and the incentive to play in the Games in Spain boosted him training, which led to going to Barcelona ’92 where “I got into the final of the 100m (TS4) but when the final, 30 meters from the finish line, I broke my hamstring and I went to seventh. ”I got the minimum Atlanta ’96, but I was not selected for bureaucratic issues ”. After the disappointment, he went back to thinking about the next Olympic cycle and “I ended up competing Sydney 2000 where the fourth ends ”.

After almost a quarter of a century, This is Carrasco may return to compete in some Games. The inclusion of his category, PTS3 (for paratriathletes with moderately limited coordination on one body part or lack of limbs) among those accepted for Paris 2024, opens the door to the ability to compete in what his fourth Games, the first in the paratriathlon. “For me it’s a dream and it’s a message for all athletes that you can continue competing no matter how old you are”.

“I’m not exchanging the Extremadura Medal for one of the Olympic Games”

And it is Kini Carrasco who loves her land and shows it wherever she goes. He still gets emotional when he remembers the Medal of Extremadura awarded to him in 2021 in recognition of his athletic career. Despite the difficulty of the question between that change Medal of Extremadura for one of the Games, which seems to be a choice between father or mother, Kini acknowledges that “I will not change the Extremadura medal for one of the Paralympic Games for which I represent”.

Member of the Executive Committee of the Paralympic Committee: The Paralympic Promises

In addition to training 15-20 hours a week, he has time to combine his work as a physical trainer for Archery Technification Group in its collaboration with Juegaterapia Foundation whose motto is “playing chemo flies by” and organizes a solidarity race that in 2021 raised € 7,000 along with Olympic gold and silver, Alberto Gines and Alejandro Sanchez Palomero, Among others. As a member of the Executive Committee of the Paralympic Committee, he insists that “we are giving it tremendous support to the Paralympic promises, we are committed to making it happen. We want to provide relief to the Paralympic team in general, as well as to the paratriathlon. FETRI is focused on paratriathlon and the results it achieves ”.