Jessica Vall’s last dream

“When three years ago they asked me about this moment, I saw myself working, raising a family. “I saw myself in a different way than I see now,” he said with an eternal smile on his face. Jessica Vall. “When they talked to me about Paris, I imagined myself in front of the TV, watching. I thought I couldn’t hold it against the water. So I live these months as a gift. In other words, without the pressure to ‘have to’. “I can survive an Olympic season without a pandemic in the way,” he celebrated. “That’s why I appreciate what I do, to resist the young people who in other competitions do great times,” completing the reflection.

He does this with the experience that his thirty-five years give him, but also with the enthusiasm that, although perhaps different today, he felt many other times in his career. With two Olympic Games behind him, with a world bronze, with two silvers and a European bronze and with a European gold and a bronze in the short course, among other achievements, on his record, Jessica Vall Montero (11-22-1988) continues to believe in her work as a way to continue expanding her history. In this case, the participation in the event of five rings.

Friday, September 1, 2023. Sant Andreu Swimming Club. He left with a foot injury that did not prevent him from qualifying for the Fukuoka World Cup last summer, but affected his performance. “The goal is to feel competitive and ambitious again on the water”, back to the past Jessica. “I think it’s a harder challenge than doing the minimum. I told Jordi that I don’t want to think about times because I just finished 2:26 and I’m quite a realistic person,” he continued about his conversation that day with his coach. Jordi Jou about his test, the 200 breaststroke. “But Yes, I want to ask him to train like a normal Olympic season.focused on feeling competitive and ambitious on the water.

We are on Sunday, June 2, 2024. Jessica swam this Thursday in 2:24.60 at Ciutat de Barcelona, at the Sant Andreu Swimming Club. 2:23.91 is needed to go to Paris, a mark that has seemed a long way off in the last three years. But not so much. “I talked to Jou recently. I told him that we reached the goal of being competitive earlier than I thought, “Jessica reflected. “So for now the goal is to give my version to the tests. I want to be in my best condition since Tokyo, which was the last Olympic season and a turning point in my sports career. I want to scrape off every possible tenth to get close to that minimum”, he said, convinced.

Nine months had passed between the two dates. But, despite the evolution in terms of goals, the goal is always there. “The chip change was on September 1, at the level of training and consistency,” Jessica explained. “I wish I had done it sooner, to be honest,” he said. That foot injury that sidelined him for several months during the 2022-2023 season, despite the fact that the results kept coming, prevented him from doing so. “Getting him back isn’t easy, because being injured at twelve isn’t the same as being injured at thirty-four.”he reflected.

He had a bad time. “I didn’t touch the water for four weeks and when I came back I had to do rehabilitation, so qualifying for the Fukuoka World Cup was a gift,” Jessica said. “What happens is you want to take advantage of it, but I know that I haven’t trained consistently to measure myself against the best in the world.. Putting yourself on that stage and knowing that you can’t give your best version is something difficult, because I can’t represent Spain as I believe it should. I found it to be not what I expected it to be. But it helped me a lot,” he added.

So, at thirty-five years old, the illusion is complete. “It’s not just what you lose physically, but also the level of confidence and sensations. It’s hard to get all that back,” Jessica admits. “So The change is to start the new season recovering from injury. Join everyone from the beginning“, said. He did it because he left Fukuoka with a positive reading. “”I came out believing that I had recovered. Until that race I didn’t think I would be among the best, but I held the top 16 and I left with the feeling that I was closer than I thoughtthat I still need to trust myself to enter here,” he admitted.

In search of a third Game

An Olympian in Rio and Tokyo at the individual level in both the 100 breaststroke and 200 breaststroke, Jessica used last year’s World Championships to continue to believe in her possibilities. In both tests, but without the passage of time changing the priority. “I think the 100 is more of an option than the 200 to do the minimum,” he wonders if at this stage of his career he is more comfortable with a shorter test or the endurance test he always does. dominated. “I really want to swim the 100, I’m so excited and it gives me a lot of joy and a lot of misery, with no middle ground. But because of my physical conditions and how I do the test, Jou is more suited to 200so the fight goes on,” he said with a laugh.

This is something that Jessica also agrees with. “I haven’t swam the fastest time in the 100 (1:06.79) since before Tokyo and in the 200 (2:23.91) I swam below that,” he said. In fact, Jessica has swum under the one hectometre minimum four times in her career and the last of these was at Sette Colli in 2019. She has done it ten times in the 200 breaststroke, including tenth at the last Games . “It’s harder for me to be 100 now because the girls are coming out more aggressive. and when I got the rhythm I didn’t have time to get into it. But stimuli after training changes are good because it’s about working on muscle memory and the body notices it,” he said.

The focus, therefore, was clear: try to lower that 2:23.91 long test again. He got closer to him in Barcelona and it wasn’t by chance. Vall has had to readjust his way of swimming in the event in recent years and that is a situation that allows him to be in the fight for the minimum. “I still looked good in the second half of the 200, but we changed the strategy for the sole reason that the bracistas were coming out faster and faster,” he said of his more aggressive starts in recent times.

To combine it with the same endurance as before in the second half of the race, he had to vary his training sessions. “It’s about being able to get to the ball earlier, because otherwise I would fall too far and have no point of focus to support myself and fight back,” he explained. “So We do altitude work which gives me background for part two later. Of tests. It allows you to combine it with being in the ointment on the first road,” he said.

Trying to meet the Olympic minimum in the 200 breaststroke isn’t the only thing Jessica is doing. Vall has been working at the sports nutrition company for several years Etixx, a situation that continued to exist during the Olympic period. “In September we talked and they gave me the freedom to work online. I was really stressed because everyday life was completely different from what I did for Rio or Tokyo. But I want, I want to do it,” he explained. “I’m at a point in my sporting career where I can’t get in. I have to think about other parts, but without leaving the swimming that makes me happy this year,” he said.

Because of that longing, he faced everyday life in a different way. “The ability to fight is a gift. I know what I’m dealing with“, account. “I’m in a position where, even when you’re studying, the focus is on training and being at the Games. I’ve experienced two Olympic qualifications and I know what it’s like to have an opportunity. I know what it feels like to swim in the Olympic semi-finals,” he explained. “But if something goes wrong now, nothing will change for me. I want to feel like a fighter, I want to feel capable of fighting to do it.said Vall, fully committed to the process. The challenge is to be among the 200 breaststroke Olympic qualifiers on July 31. But, whatever the case, time continues to pass later.

Sunday, September 1, 2024. “Call me and I’ll tell you where I am,” Jessica laughs. “I hope to be somewhere supporting Spanish swimming, because I think I have a lot to contribute, even if it’s not in the water. Not sure, but we’ll see,” he closes. Before that, there is one last dream to fulfill and it is not a small one: to participate in the third Olympic Games. But for Jessica Vall nothing is impossible: If he has done anything in his extraordinary sporting career, it is to dream big..