You practice rowing and triathlon at the same time, how did you decide to unite both sports?
I started rowing in 2008, from there I dedicated myself to professional rowing, although here in Peru you don’t pay, but you could say that my day to day was rowing. This until last year when I decided to also start with the triathlon. Part of the rowing trains a lot what is cycling and swimming. First I thought about doing road cycling, and well my club practices triathlon, and there I managed to get my two coaches in contact to put together a plan together. This year they have given me many results, I have done well in both sports, I have been national champion, both in rowing and triathlon.
Have you already represented Peru in triathlon?
No, only in rowing, in world championships, Pan Americans, world cups. More than anything, I do it as a hobby, with an extra sport, complementary to rowing that allows me to continue developing, but I don’t rule it out in the future. More than anything in long distance triathlons and that at my age is much more than rowing. Yes I’d like to.
You were present at the World Rowing Championships in Wales…
Yes, but I did not have the expected result because of an accident at sea. I was meters away from winning a medal. It was super busy, the waves caused it to collide with another boat and we were delayed.
2022 brought with it several rowing championships where you also stood out…
The good thing is that this year sea rowing has been more active, which is a discipline that is gaining more importance worldwide within rowing. I started the year in the Rowing America Cup, where I obtained five gold medals and one bronze, and that gave me a strong motivation for the Bolivarians, I will have spent four months without rowing that boat that was single, but, well, with the preparation that I had encouraged me to continue obtaining the result that was a bronze medal.
Why didn’t you participate in the Sudamericanos de Asunción?
What happens is that the ODESUR Games intersected with the world championship, so I had to choose to be in the world championship for greater weight and it is a little more relevant.
How will your classification be given to Santiago 2023?
What rowing is, in the month of March, in Chile, in the pre-Pan American games, where the boats are classified, not the crew. Peru seeks to qualify the largest amount of pot for Santiago.
How will the modalities be divided?
The Rowing Shape, which will take place in Santiago, has a modality of one, two, four and eight. Peru is preparing two and four.
How about the support provided by the federation at the gates of this type of competition?
The rowing team has always been very united, I have gone through different partners, different generations. It is a good group, the federation supports within what is limited since we do not have a high budget, in Lima we do not have a place to practice good quality rowing, but the federation always finds a way to help us.
As for the materials, do you have everything you need?
We have a very good quality German 2013 fleet, which is still in a competitive state. The cheapest is 16,000 dollars in Europe, that has to be brought here, the other boats are between 20,000 and 40,000 dollars, so they cannot easily be renewed.
At the South American level, how is the national rowing?
Unfortunately, I think we are not doing as well as we hope. There is a lot of comparison with Uruguay, Chile, Brazil and Argentina at the moment. There is a lot of difference in conditions, in investment in the sport, in development. Lima 2019 was one of the best moments as a team thanks to the support, we were among the top five on the continent.
What’s next for 2023?
2023 is a very long year. I start with the pre-Pan American, from there in April the Copa América of sea rowing will take place in Lima where quotas will be given for the Balí Beach Games, and from there there are a couple of triathlon events that I want to compete nationally and internationally and ending the year with the Coastal Rowing World Cup and Pan American Games.
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