Carlos Arévalo and Patricia Encinas, flag bearers of the Spanish delegation at the Henryk Reyman Stadium
MADRID, 21 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The third edition of the European Games were inaugurated this Wednesday at the Henryk Reyman Stadium in Krakow (Poland), where the canoeist Carlos Arévalo and the handball player Patricia Encinas were flag-bearers for the Spanish delegation and witnessed how the Ukrainian team received the support of the organizers, including a Eurovision wink by the Kalush Orchestra.
Almost a year after the Olympic Games that will take place in Paris (France), Europe began its great multi-sports event. But it did so in a climate of concern about the veto over the Russian and Belarusian delegations, following the invasion carried out by the Russian Army in Ukrainian territories on February 24, 2022 under the orders of Vladimir Putin, president of Russia.
In fact, the Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2022 with their song ‘Stefania’, was the main attraction of the Opening Ceremony in its musical phase, after the formal parade of athletes and before the institutional speeches. Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), thus made a call for peace and consensus.
Carlos Arévalo and Patricia Encinas carried the Spanish flag at number 43, during a parade that included Cindy Winner Djankeu Ngamba and Kasra Mehdipournejad as representatives of the European Olympic Committee (EOC) Refugee Team, being the first delegation of these characteristics to compete for a continental Games.
Almost three hours into the ceremony, the Flame of Peace lit the cauldron to officially declare these third European Games open, with Krakow as the nerve center but with the Malopolska region as the geographical shelter for all the competitions. Not surprisingly, last Tuesday the activity began in various disciplines.
NOW APPROACHING THE FIGHT FOR THE MEDALS
This same Wednesday, on behalf of the Spanish representation, the classification for the semifinals of the two beach handball teams stood out. The women’s team defeated Greece 2-1 (19-21, 17-16 and 7-2) in the quarterfinals and the men’s team also did the same 2-1 (23-20, 24-25 and 9- 8) against Germany.
In addition, the cyclist Teresa Fernández-Miranda got into the final of the BMX Freestyle Park thanks to an average score of 55.16 between the two heats, finishing the qualifying test in seventh position. For his part, the young Pol Díaz finished twenty-fourth in the men’s competition held in the city of Krzeszowice.
In canoeing, three Spanish boats will fight for the medals. The men’s K4 was the first boat to certify its presence in the final, thanks to a regatta in which the world champions had to push at the end to win against the Lithuanian boat.
They also highlighted the C2 500 masculine and feminine. Tano García and Pablo Martínez once again shot powerfully in their series, but the Italian boat once again took victory, just as it happened in the last World Cup held in May. For their part, Antía Jácome and María Corbera dominated their series and won a direct ticket to the final.
However, the women’s K4 500 with Lucía Val, Bárbara Pardo, Nerea García and Carla Corral did not reach the final after suffering a mishap in one of the footrests, which broke with 200 meters to go before the end of their race and conditioned his performance in the semifinals, finishing in fourth position.
It was not a good day for the K2 500 formed by Carlos Garrote and Lázaro López either, finishing their semifinal in fifth position and running out of options to compete in the final. In the women’s category, Cristina Franco and Miriam Vega were left out of the final after being sixth in a demanding regatta.
In artistic swimming, Spain left good feelings with the free duet of Alisa Ozhogina and Iris Tió, for their fourth place in the preliminary round, and for the leadership of the team in their free routine preliminary. She obtained 303.2751 points, without penalty and with 120.75 in artistic impression, unstoppable ahead of Italy (275.4290).
The dynamic and showy display was carried out by Cristina Arámbula, Berta Ferreras, Marina García Polo, Txell Mas, Paula Ramírez, Sara Saldaña, Blanca Toledano and Alisa Ozhogina and Iris Tió themselves. This formation of eight swimmers was not the one that Spain presented in the Oviedo 2023 Super Final, where the junior team performed.