From carrying skis at the age of two to becoming the greatest Catalan skier of all time

BarcelonaA lifetime dedicated to skiing. Quim Salarich was already carrying skis at the age of two, as he and his family would go up to the Pyrenees to spend quality time in La Molina. Like so many Catalan families. But his brother showed promise, and when they asked him if he wanted to compete, he ended up following in his footsteps. Three decades later, at 32, the Osona native has become the best Catalan alpine skier of all time. You have to go back to Paquito Fernández Ochoa – winner of a gold medal in Sapporo in 1972 in the slalom – to find a skier from the Spanish delegation with such impressive international results. "I'm arriving in good shape. Training has gone well," explains the skier born in Vic. He was the Spanish flag bearer at the opening ceremony, but decided not to stay in Italy and return home for several days to train in La Molina, a key location in his career. To train calmly, concentrate, and, incidentally, enjoy a calçotada (a traditional Catalan barbecue) with his friends. The weather didn't quite cooperate, with snow and wind, but Salarich believes he's arriving in peak form for Monday's slalom event. The challenge? To shake off the bitter taste of his previous Games.

Because Salarich has already competed in three Games. Today he makes his debut at the Milan-Cortina event after a troubled journey to Italy, as the wind delayed his return to the Alps by more than 24 hours. In his first Games, in 2018 in Pyeongchang (South Korea), he went off course in the slalom. "I only found out I was going a few days before. I was young, I arrived with little time to adapt, and it didn't go as we expected," he explains. Four years later in Beijing, he arrived with more experience, but the same thing happened: he went off course, wanting to take too many risks. "When I went off course, I was on a time that would have put me in contention for medals," he recalls. Salarich knows it's very difficult to think about medals, because others would have to falter, but he aspires to finish among the top fifteen in his third Olympic appearance. He wants to demonstrate the high level he has shown in recent years in the World Cup, with very good results, such as his thirteenth place finish in the Madonna di Campiglio race last January. Salarich will compete wearing a helmet with the image of Nala, his dog, who passed away a few months ago.

"It hasn't been easy getting here. When I was young, my father died, and I had to decide whether to live in Switzerland so I could dedicate myself to skiing at a time when there wasn't much support for athletes," he explains. His father, Claudi, had been a registered skier, participating in competitions in the 1980s. Xavier, his older brother, also skied, so Quim had the option of following in his footsteps when he started competing at the age of six. Salarich, a graduate in business administration from the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), took the step of moving to Switzerland to join a professional team, Steffen-S1, which offered him everything he couldn't find in the Pyrenees. He lived there for three years, gaining experience that has allowed him to compete in three Olympic Games in a discipline where he often feels alone. "Other countries have six, seven, or eight alpine skiers, and that's not the case with the Spanish delegation," explains a man who will participate in a competition that will also feature one of the hottest names at the Games, the Brazilian Lucas Abeto, born in Norway to a Norwegian father and a Brazilian mother. He is the man who won the first medal at a Winter Olympics for any South American sport. "It's not a big surprise because I was already in very good shape. It is a surprise that I won gold by such a wide margin, but it's not a surprise that I was on the podium," Salarich told the EFE news agency. If Brazil has had a great showing in the Alps, anything can happen. And Salarich arrives ready to enjoy himself and "give it his all".