The International Ski Federation confirmed to the Ecuadorian Olympic Committee (COE) that the country has a female quota in alpine skiing to participate in the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne.
The spot is given thanks to the outstanding performance of Ecuadorian Sarah Escobar, who has been participating in qualifying competitions for the maximum youth Olympic event for winter sports.
Sarah, 17 years old, is the daughter of Ecuadorian parents but was born and currently lives in the United States. She has dual nationality, although she has participated as an Ecuadorian in all the events she has been competing. "I am very proud to be able to participate in the Youth Olympic Games and to represent Ecuador... Wish me good luck," said Escobar.
A week ago, she received a visit from Augusto Morán, president of the COE, who congratulated her on her performance in skiing, a discipline she has been competing in since childhood.
At the age of 9, she achieved first place in the ranking of the New Jersey Ski Racing Association in her age group. Sarah has represented the state of New Jersey in competitions such as Gunstock 2014 and the Eastern Alpine Championships U14 River-Maine 2016.
Due to her results, the COE sent a request to obtain an Olympic spot and the International Federation found her eligible, granting the historic spot to the country.
Sarah Escobar becomes the first Ecuadorian athlete to qualify for the Winter Youth Olympics, and the second to achieve this important accomplishment in the ultimate winter sports event, following the achievement of skier Klaus Jungbluth in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
After qualification
On the other hand, Jungbluth is preparing to qualify for the Winter Olympics, which will be held in China from February 4 to 22, 2022, and would be his second Olympic participation.
Klaus aims to rank among the best in South America, but the first step will be to achieve the coveted Olympic qualification, which will be more challenging in this occasion.
"The first part gives 50% of the qualification and is the most important, having a positive result in the Nordic skiing World Cup 2021 in Germany. By positive result, I mean having a difference of no more than six and a half minutes with the winner of the race. This opens up a spot for the country in the Olympics. Once we have that 50%, the other 50% comes, which is the same method of previous qualification, which consists of five races with less than 300 points after the World Cup," said the athlete. (D)
2020
LAUSANNE GAMES
The Winter Youth Olympics will be held in Lausanne, Switzerland, from January 9 to 22, 2020. More than 1,100 athletes from 70 countries, aged 15 to 18, will participate.