MADRID, 20 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Spanish cyclist Ricardo Ten has stressed his “optimal state of form” ahead of the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, an event that will take place from August 28 to September 8 and where “pressure is not a risk” for him, as he will take it as “a gift” since he will go to the French capital “with the greatest hopes.”
“My career at the Paralympic Games was something I didn’t even expect. I made my debut as a swimmer in Atlanta and then came this gift, cycling. We’re going for my second Games as a cyclist, 28 years after my first participation. For me, pressure is not a risk and my experience will help me. This is a gift and I’m going to Paris with the highest hopes,” Ten told the official media of the Royal Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC).
“Tokyo was excellent, the records say so, although it is true that we came from a cycle full of successes and we were hoping to perhaps have the reward of that medal in an individual event,” said the Valencian athlete about his first participation as a cyclist in Tokyo 2020, where he won a bronze medal alongside Alfonso Cabello and Pablo Jaramillo in the team sprint.
After completing a new Paralympic cycle with quite a few medals on both the track and the road, Ten is looking ahead to Paris 2024 with a desire to get on the podium in the road time trial: “We have set ourselves a very clear goal, which is the ‘chrono’ on September 4.”
“We have improved our material, we have made a great deal of adjustments in this discipline, but we also see ourselves with options in the track events, both in the 3 km and in the team sprint; we are going to fight to the maximum, we know that the differences are going to be minimal and we are going to fight for those medals that I believe are within our reach,” he added regarding this road time trial.
“We’re arriving in Paris in top form, very good. We’ve managed to adjust everything so that we get to this point in the best possible shape,” said the ever-ambitious Valencian, who maintains that “in the time trial we’re going to go out with maximum ambition,” said Ten.
“I hope we can materialize all that work and all that effort into a medal, which would be very important for everyone around me, my team, the Federation, sponsors, Committee [Paralímpico Español]family… It would be very nice,” concluded the Valencian athlete.