Damián Vindel from the Olympic canoeist to the IRONMAN of Lanzarote

"I have spent 25 years of my life in sports and most of them at a very high level, I think I have the capacity to do so, otherwise I would not try ... Although I say it will be very difficult and more being my first IM! !! "

 

 

Hoy to the presentamos Damián Vindel, (Lérida, 1981) triathlete of the club Club Biciomanía Xtreme of Seville who has been practicing triathlon for two years and for 2015 has raised the challenge of playing the IRONMAN Lanzarote, the most important Ironman in Spain.

 

Hello Damian, as a triathlete you are relatively new, but as an athlete you have been at 20 for more than a year, being one of the best canoeists in Spain, shining above all your Olympic diploma at the 2004 Athens Games. Why did you start practicing canoeing and not another sport?

I started 8 years, in 1989, by family tradition, my parents are both good canoeists, being my mother 18 times champion of Spain and international with the Spanish team and my father twice champion of Spain of descent of rivers and 6º classified as better result in calm waters. My mother is very versatile but highlights her great background ... my father very explosive ... so for reasons of genetics had to be a canoeist yes or yes, I also think I have good mix because I'm good at both bottom and speed.

 

What were your most important results?

6º at the Athens Olympic Games 2004 (k2- 500m), 2º Mediterranean Games Almeria 2005 (k2- 500m-), 3º Junior World 1999 (k2-1000m), 3º of Europe sub-23 year2000 (k1-1000m) , 4º of Europe 2007 (k2-500m). Finalist (9 first) in 7 worldwide and in 9 Europeans. On a national level I won more than 40 medals in different championships in Spain.

 

When you retire from canoeing? What do you do from that moment?

I left the national team in the 2008 year when I failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, which caused me to lose my half year of the ADO scholarship, so I had to start working to be able to afford the mortgage on my house, so I went to train with the club, I still compete at the national level getting some finals and medals in Spanish championships, combining work training with work (road safety teacher). Finally at the end of the 2012 season after 23 years in the canoe I lose the desire to continue entering it.

 

When do you start doing triathlon? Why do you choose this sport?

It all starts in winter of the 12 / 13 season. During that same season we had already done some bike routes. We had already talked on occasion with my wife (Ana Ruz) the subject of trying some triathlon competition, even she had told me that if she ever left the canoe she would like to try triathlon, since she is very good at swimming and running Well, that's when we started to train little by little, I was given a regular swim but the bike and running do not hurt me, and I also call this sport, I see it very complete and entertaining ... And there I hooked! !

 

What races have you played to date and most outstanding results?

I have contested many cross triathlon, some sprint, 3 Olympians, only one MD due to a pyramidal injury that I had and many duathlons, as best results I have 5th in the cross duathlon of Portil in 2013, 1st in the duathlon cross San Nicolás del Puerto (Seville), 12th in the MD triathlon in Mazagón (Huelva), and several more duathlons and triathlons in the top 10-15 ... I have never had a planned test calendar or a specific training until now.

 

 

And for 2015 you decide to take a leap and run the Lanzarote IM. What motivates you to face this race? Why do you choose Lanzarote and not another Ironman? How do you plan the step at this distance?

IM iron man ... I could not explain well why doing Ironman is something that I saw very far and very crazy ... But it was cooking inside and an internal battle was forming ... something difficult to explain that I would express as something epic , I think about it and it makes my hair stand on end, my mind and my body need to fight that battle and I don't really know why ... I love this distance is the origin of everything ... The hardest thing, and all the training and preparation that It entails they call me a lot.

Lanzarote is the first IM I heard of, I also heard that it could be the hardest in the world because of the weather ... And according to what they say, the one closest to Hawaii, I have friends who have done it and they say it is very hard ... And the harder more epic, more satisfaction ...

 

We know that it is very complicated because of the level that exists in all GGEE, but this question for an Olympic athlete like you is inevitable ... Do you plan to try to qualify for Hawaii?

I have a lot of respect for the Ironman test and for all the triathletes who have been trying to qualify for Kona for many years, so being my debut in the distance is hard to know how to finish the competition.

I pose many, and try to qualify for Hawaii is an illusion that there is, and if I see options, then we will fight for it. It would be very nice to go to the cradle of triathlon and compete in the world championship ... I know it is very complicated, but I have fulfilled other goals just as complicated, so I see myself with options.

I have 25 years of my life in sports and most of them at a very high level, I think I have the ability to do so, otherwise I would not try ... Although I say it will be very difficult and more being my first IM !! !

 

Finally, we know that it is a very complicated challenge, the preparation and the dispute of an Ironman, so you will not be alone in this new adventure ... Who supports you on this road to Lanzarote?

My family supports me, especially my wife who will have to put up with me hehe… My coach, Jorge Ortega Diez, the physiotherapist Rafael Fernández Arteaga, the gym where I train Salud Sport Club and its owner José Claudio Sánchez, Ricardo Cabrera in supplementation and all my friends who are those already mentioned and many more who support me in everything.

 

Thank you very much Damián, we wish you the best for this new stage that you start with the preparation for the Lanzarote IM

Thanks to you, Triathlon News for giving me the opportunity to do this interview.

 

Juan Jose Martí @jjnavio