May 12

40: Erik Noya, Spanish Speed Climber

Erik is an accomplished speed climber from Spain! In this episode, we’ll learn about how politics destroyed climbing in Venezuela, what it was like starting over with life and training in Spain, injuries in speed climbing, and we’ll get his thoughts on other speed climbing formats like relays and yearly route changes. Hear from speed climbing’s most positive athlete!


Show Notes

Guest links:

Erik’s Instagram

Reference links:

Climb Gurus - Clothing Brand!

Old Venezuelan IFSC Profile

https://darmstadt.studiobloc.de/events/sbm/

Timestamps

Timestamps of discussion topics

0:00 - Intro

1:11 - Mad Rock Shoutout!!

1:59 - Training at a special facility

4:12 - How he started climbing and competing

11:00 - IFSC athlete page mixup

14:46 - Moving from Venezuela to Spain

16:07 - Why he moved away from Venezuela

24:06 - Venezuela’s PREVIOUS climbing dominance

31:07 - Starting over in Spain

36:54 - The differences in speed training

40:10 - Bad speed climbing habits to break

46:40 - Reflecting on OQS and not making the Olympics

54:37 - Climbing goals for 2025 season

57:26 - Being an older climber

59:37 - Knowing when to give up

1:02:27 - Speed climbing injuries?!

1:07:32 - Life outside of speed climbing

1:13:54 - Discord Q: Opinion on the changes in FEDME: the firing of David Macia from the Olympics selection for 2028?

1:19:57 - Discord Q: Thoughts on relays, changing the route yearly, etc?

1:22:09 - IG Q: Why did you run the Chinese top the nobody else was?

1:25:30 - IG Q: Advice for people starting out speed climbing?

1:26:23 - IG Q: How was training in Indonesia?

1:29:52 - Words of wisdom + where to find Erik

Full Transcript

Show transcript
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.259
To be honest, back in those days, training like

00:00:02.259 --> 00:00:05.799
a caveman, it was super fun. I love it. Speed

00:00:05.799 --> 00:00:09.679
in Spain was not developed at all. Like, I came

00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:13.640
here in 2017 to Madrid specifically because they

00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:17.699
built there the first wall in 2017. Of course,

00:00:17.719 --> 00:00:20.920
at the same time, I was training. With who? With

00:00:20.920 --> 00:00:27.059
nobody. How? Alone. Everybody thinks that we

00:00:27.059 --> 00:00:32.020
don't get injuries. fingers but no we get the

00:00:32.020 --> 00:00:36.000
same welcome to another episode of the that's

00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:38.420
not real climbing podcast i'm your host Jinni

00:00:38.420 --> 00:00:40.460
and i'm excited to introduce my guest for today

00:00:40.460 --> 00:00:43.799
Erik Noya if you're not familiar eric is an accomplished

00:00:43.799 --> 00:00:46.750
speed climber from spain In this episode, we'll

00:00:46.750 --> 00:00:49.009
learn about how politics destroyed climbing in

00:00:49.009 --> 00:00:51.509
Venezuela, what it was like starting over with

00:00:51.509 --> 00:00:54.429
life and training in Spain, injuries in speed

00:00:54.429 --> 00:00:56.770
climbing, and we'll get his thoughts on other

00:00:56.770 --> 00:00:59.469
speed climbing formats like relays and yearly

00:00:59.469 --> 00:01:02.210
route changes. I hope you enjoy this episode

00:01:02.210 --> 00:01:13.560
with Erik. Real quick, I'm excited to announce

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my new sponsor helping make this podcast episode

00:01:16.060 --> 00:01:19.099
possible, Mad Rock Climbing. I got fitted with

00:01:19.099 --> 00:01:21.060
their brand new line of high -performance shoes,

00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:24.760
the D2 .1s. They just came out December 6th,

00:01:24.760 --> 00:01:26.659
but you might notice a few of your favorite gomp

00:01:26.659 --> 00:01:28.900
climbers are already wearing them, like Oscar

00:01:28.900 --> 00:01:33.650
Baudrin from Team Canada, and also me. This is

00:01:33.650 --> 00:01:35.450
the first time I've gotten to wear their shoes

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for an extended period of time, and I'm actually

00:01:37.590 --> 00:01:39.650
super impressed with the grip of their in -house

00:01:39.650 --> 00:01:42.269
rubber. And of course, the famous drone heel

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that everyone says is the cheat code to heel

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hooking small edges. Feel free to message me

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if you have any questions about the shoes or

00:01:49.409 --> 00:01:52.430
sizing, and you can use the discount code NOTREALCLIMBER

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for 10 % off your entire MedRock order. Info

00:01:56.510 --> 00:01:58.769
will be in the description. Back to the show.

00:01:59.010 --> 00:02:00.930
How are you doing today? Did you like train today

00:02:00.930 --> 00:02:04.159
earlier? I know you mentioned. showering so yeah

00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:08.120
I'm fine thank you yeah I went to the gym this

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morning I had a upper body session and yeah then

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I ate at the same facility where I train it's

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like a facility that we have here in Barcelona

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so I ate there then I went to the market I bought

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a couple of stuff then came home shower and now

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I'm here Is this like a training center kind

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of thing or is it just like a regular gym? No,

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it's like a specialized facility for athlete

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training and development, especially for Olympic

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athletes. So it's like a sponsorship, but that's

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the way. That's an easy way to see it, but it's

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a sponsorship that we have the athletes here

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in Spain. So we can go to a super cool facility

00:03:02.169 --> 00:03:07.490
without paying some extra money. And yeah, there

00:03:07.490 --> 00:03:12.530
we have for eating, we have physiotherapy, we

00:03:12.530 --> 00:03:15.710
have, of course, the gym and even the sports

00:03:15.710 --> 00:03:19.580
inside. We have the climbing gym. uh the the

00:03:19.580 --> 00:03:23.580
climbing wall sorry but it was rented so uh now

00:03:23.580 --> 00:03:27.439
we don't have it but as you can see uh it's a

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very cool facility to to train and there is the

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possibility to live and i lived there one year

00:03:34.340 --> 00:03:38.020
oh and now i have another spot yeah it's like

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a um crazy training spot We have like three in

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Spain, this big. Wow. And it's a methodology.

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Why'd you move out? Sounds like a great place

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to live. I moved out because I wanted to live

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alone and because I started a relationship with

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someone. So it was not possible for her to live

00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:08.340
with me in this facility. So I decided to go

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out with her. Okay. That's a fair reason, I guess.

00:04:11.639 --> 00:04:16.019
yeah yeah so yeah let's just get into how you

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started climbing and competing um and also one

00:04:19.240 --> 00:04:21.120
of the instagram questions that came in was what

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inspired you about speed climbing specifically

00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:28.740
oh that's so nice um well i started climbing

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when i was eight years old uh the first time

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i tried was in a birthday party uh with a friend

00:04:36.779 --> 00:04:41.050
but it was very special because yeah but This

00:04:41.050 --> 00:04:44.009
time it was in the rocks. So my first time climbing,

00:04:44.149 --> 00:04:48.990
it wasn't an indoor gym. It was an outdoor. Yeah,

00:04:49.050 --> 00:04:54.050
it was outdoor. So that was super nice. For me,

00:04:54.050 --> 00:04:58.209
I felt amazing. I loved it. And the feeling I

00:04:58.209 --> 00:05:02.670
got is that it was very easy for me. And the

00:05:02.670 --> 00:05:06.009
other kids were a bit scared or it was like difficult

00:05:06.009 --> 00:05:09.899
to do the moves. And for me, climbing was like

00:05:09.899 --> 00:05:15.100
very intuitive. So I liked that everyone was

00:05:15.100 --> 00:05:17.360
like, oh, I think you did good. I cheered and

00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:21.360
stuff. And I like it. But I was very small. So

00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:27.920
it was like only one time. But then my mom was

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skipping traffic in the hometown where I grew

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up. And we went on a different way. we are not

00:05:36.889 --> 00:05:40.670
used to and i saw a climbing gym i had no idea

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that we had a climbing gym in my hometown so

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i told my mom like okay i want to do that and

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um she was like not so happy because she's a

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little bit afraid of heights and i had to beg

00:05:57.810 --> 00:06:05.319
her like for one week and then after So many

00:06:05.319 --> 00:06:08.139
days pushing like, please, mom, take me there.

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I would love to try. She said like, OK, let's

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go there. And I tried and it was like love at

00:06:15.060 --> 00:06:19.680
first sight. I just fell in love with the sport,

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with the environment. I came from swimming, which

00:06:24.579 --> 00:06:27.660
is a very competitive environment. And then I.

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uh ended up in this climbing gym where everybody

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was so friendly they wanted to help me and um

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i don't know it was like uh home it felt like

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home to be honest like the same feeling when

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you got with your kids at the school but while

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doing a sport you know so that was kind of a

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nice feeling and that's how i started basically

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and then when did you start doing competitions

00:06:54.399 --> 00:07:03.170
well in this gym Like they had this philosophy

00:07:03.170 --> 00:07:10.889
where you do all three disciplines, like speed

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and boulder. So you had a speed wall there? No,

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because I was like eight years old. Like there

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wasn't even official speed lanes and everything.

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The speed competitions were on site. It was like

00:07:27.389 --> 00:07:30.889
you went to a isolation zone. This is very funny.

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You went to isolation zone, then you had like

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six minutes to read the route and then you started

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racing. So it was a different sport because like

00:07:42.810 --> 00:07:46.410
you had to adapt on every round. And of course,

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you have to read the route, how you're going

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to jump and stuff. Then you have to adapt on

00:07:50.730 --> 00:07:55.680
each round and improve the... the method, so

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to speak, to be faster. And that was very, very

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fun. It was the old school kind of competitions.

00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:09.579
Yeah. The speed route started in 2007. Okay.

00:08:10.379 --> 00:08:15.939
Yeah. And it arrived to Venezuela like two years

00:08:15.939 --> 00:08:20.819
before that. So imagine, I touched that route

00:08:20.819 --> 00:08:27.319
when I was 15. or 16 years so yeah did you always

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feel most inspired by speed climbing then or

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were you more interested in bouldering or lead

00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:36.639
no i had the same passion for all of them like

00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:40.700
for me when when i was a kid it was like everything

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kind of the same different but the same it was

00:08:44.379 --> 00:08:47.860
climbing and i had fun doing all of them for

00:08:47.860 --> 00:08:52.940
me speed climbing i felt always uh more competition

00:08:53.610 --> 00:08:57.210
on it and uh that was nice you know when you

00:08:57.210 --> 00:09:00.110
are growing up racing with your friends that

00:09:00.110 --> 00:09:05.190
was very funny and i loved that um also i had

00:09:05.190 --> 00:09:09.289
bigger influences that went out to competitions

00:09:09.289 --> 00:09:11.509
and did pretty good in international competitions

00:09:11.509 --> 00:09:15.009
and uh for me that was a lesson that's something

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i learned that i could travel around the world

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um competing and um Like I saw that environment

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since little, since I was starting to grow in

00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:32.379
the climbing community. So I saw an opportunity

00:09:32.379 --> 00:09:36.759
there. But I had the same passion for boulder

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and leap. And I trained them very hard too. Just

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that then to international, for going to international

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competitions, it was easier to. Or we were better

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in general in speed than in lead and bouldering.

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Of course, the competitive level in Venezuela

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was very different than the competitive level

00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:08.980
in Europe. So we get usually more fundings with

00:10:08.980 --> 00:10:12.720
speed than with lead and bouldering. But that

00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:16.779
was back in Venezuela, of course. Here in Spain,

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it's a different story. It's just the opposite,

00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:24.559
which is very interesting. But I think I'm a

00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:28.080
very particular case because, yeah, I have been

00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:33.039
in touch with all three disciplines since I started

00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:38.080
to do climbing. And yeah, I only stopped doing

00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:43.600
boulder and lead five or six years ago. Maybe

00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:47.700
when I started to compete like super, super hard,

00:10:47.879 --> 00:10:52.019
something like that. But until then, I did all

00:10:52.019 --> 00:10:57.480
three. And yeah, that was kind of a resume of

00:10:57.480 --> 00:11:02.179
my speed climbing history. Then in terms of competition,

00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:06.460
I saw you only started competing in IFSC in 2019.

00:11:07.399 --> 00:11:10.740
So at that point, I guess you were like 25 around

00:11:10.740 --> 00:11:14.440
that time. Um, why did it take you so long to

00:11:14.440 --> 00:11:17.019
start like competing internationally? I think

00:11:17.019 --> 00:11:20.919
in the, I'm not sure if this, uh, still like

00:11:20.919 --> 00:11:23.519
this, I guess. Yes. But if you go to the ISCC,

00:11:23.779 --> 00:11:29.139
there is two profiles of Eric Noia, one for Venezuela

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and one for Spain. So you probably went to the,

00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:38.990
uh, Spanish profile, but. You can go to the Venezuelan

00:11:38.990 --> 00:11:42.230
profile and there are also some results. So,

00:11:42.370 --> 00:11:47.090
yeah, I started competing since very, very young

00:11:47.090 --> 00:11:52.210
age. Like I said, in this gym, I don't know,

00:11:52.230 --> 00:11:54.389
like the philosophy was, yes, learn to climbing

00:11:54.389 --> 00:11:56.649
and have fun and everything. But it was also

00:11:56.649 --> 00:11:59.470
like for going to competition. It was very, very

00:11:59.470 --> 00:12:05.230
different than nowadays. big climbing gyms. This

00:12:05.230 --> 00:12:10.590
was a super, super small spot. We call it the

00:12:10.590 --> 00:12:14.990
caves. It was a super dark place with super old

00:12:14.990 --> 00:12:20.029
holes. So it was a very different story than

00:12:20.029 --> 00:12:25.190
we know from climbing and competitions from these

00:12:25.190 --> 00:12:31.169
days. So I remember I was probably like nine.

00:12:31.740 --> 00:12:34.179
or 10 years when I did my first competition like

00:12:34.179 --> 00:12:37.519
I started climbing and six months after I was

00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:41.360
already competing it was like super youth competitions

00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:47.059
and I had to go with older people than me because

00:12:47.059 --> 00:12:52.259
in my category there was no one or they were

00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:57.259
new people so it wasn't fair so yeah I started

00:12:57.259 --> 00:13:02.909
very very young And because of that, I like normalized

00:13:02.909 --> 00:13:06.730
competing. I started to have fun with it and

00:13:06.730 --> 00:13:10.210
I just didn't leave the competitions. And once

00:13:10.210 --> 00:13:13.110
again, for me, traveling around Venezuela first

00:13:13.110 --> 00:13:16.480
was... Very nice for me was an adventure with

00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:19.059
all my friends, knowing all the people, climbers

00:13:19.059 --> 00:13:22.240
from other regions from Venezuela. That was very

00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:27.259
fun for me. And I wanted to keep doing it. And

00:13:27.259 --> 00:13:32.340
I did. I started then doing international competitions

00:13:32.340 --> 00:13:36.840
when I was 15 years old. And actually, that was

00:13:36.840 --> 00:13:40.500
my first international competition. No, wait,

00:13:40.600 --> 00:13:43.320
wait, wait a second. I don't know if I went to...

00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:52.159
some South American Cup before this IFSC Youth

00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:54.980
World Championships I'm not sure I'm not sure

00:13:54.980 --> 00:13:58.600
if I had some regional in South America before

00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:02.740
this but like the first event or the first major

00:14:02.740 --> 00:14:07.379
event for the IFSC that I remember was the Youth

00:14:07.379 --> 00:14:12.549
World Championships in Valence France Back in

00:14:12.549 --> 00:14:17.830
2000, I don't know when, I was 15 years old.

00:14:18.009 --> 00:14:22.490
And that was the first time I touched it like

00:14:22.490 --> 00:14:25.070
a speed route with the official speed holds.

00:14:25.289 --> 00:14:29.330
It wasn't the official route because it was too

00:14:29.330 --> 00:14:32.710
hard still for the youths. But it was my first

00:14:32.710 --> 00:14:35.250
international competitions with the hold. And

00:14:35.250 --> 00:14:38.490
I remember that I moved before this competition

00:14:38.490 --> 00:14:42.679
two months to another region in Venezuela. Because

00:14:42.679 --> 00:14:46.179
there was the official route. So we wanted to

00:14:46.179 --> 00:14:49.080
start training it. Did you move in 2019 then?

00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:54.440
No, I moved to Spain in 2017. I moved in 2017.

00:14:54.500 --> 00:14:58.120
I did my first national competition in 2018.

00:14:59.419 --> 00:15:02.679
And actually, that was the first national competition

00:15:02.679 --> 00:15:07.120
in Spain with the official route as well. And

00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:14.100
I won that competition. That was the first time

00:15:14.100 --> 00:15:20.460
I was Spanish champion. Oh, congrats. Yeah. 2018.

00:15:20.759 --> 00:15:25.620
Thank you. Ending 2018. And yeah, then in 2019,

00:15:25.820 --> 00:15:29.019
because of this competition, I started to go

00:15:29.019 --> 00:15:31.980
to my first international competitions with Spain.

00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:34.139
And I guess what was the purpose of the move?

00:15:34.379 --> 00:15:39.879
I think Venezuela was in a very dire situation.

00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:45.080
And like in political, economical, society terms.

00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:50.960
And I wasn't having fun. I wanted new things

00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:53.620
for me and I wanted to have a better quality

00:15:53.620 --> 00:15:58.860
life and to, I don't know, try to succeed, you

00:15:58.860 --> 00:16:04.860
know? But this country was very hard to succeed,

00:16:05.059 --> 00:16:07.940
especially in climbing. So I decided to move.

00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:11.090
I don't really... understand what the situation

00:16:11.090 --> 00:16:14.970
was like in Venezuela at the time. Can you just

00:16:14.970 --> 00:16:18.950
give a brief overview of, I guess, what was going

00:16:18.950 --> 00:16:22.769
on? Yeah, sure. Well, first of all, this is a

00:16:22.769 --> 00:16:26.549
very personal point of view. My people might

00:16:26.549 --> 00:16:31.049
disagree about this. But yeah, once again, this

00:16:31.049 --> 00:16:36.409
is an opinion. For me, in Venezuela, we had a

00:16:36.409 --> 00:16:38.879
dictatorship. The first one was Hugo Chavez,

00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:42.240
and then the second one was Nicolas Maduro, just

00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:48.120
after Chavez died. They were using all the resources

00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:52.139
from this country to stay in the power. And believe

00:16:52.139 --> 00:16:56.080
me, that's a lot of resources. These guys had

00:16:56.080 --> 00:17:03.879
a lot of oil, diamonds, gold, I don't know, whatever.

00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:08.779
there are even evidence that they were trafficking

00:17:08.779 --> 00:17:12.880
with drugs so they just did everything to keep

00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:18.900
in power and one of the goals was make the other

00:17:18.900 --> 00:17:22.779
people poor so it was easier for them to keep

00:17:22.779 --> 00:17:26.119
in the power so they just centralized everything

00:17:26.119 --> 00:17:34.660
and destroyed whatever didn't make them stay

00:17:34.660 --> 00:17:42.200
in power so like imagine a society with no rules

00:17:42.200 --> 00:17:48.720
and with no economic growth and stuck in the

00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:53.880
past you know so like as a climber there were

00:17:53.880 --> 00:17:57.380
there was for at least for me okay this is personal

00:17:57.380 --> 00:18:00.490
maybe other regions other people Had a different

00:18:00.490 --> 00:18:03.289
story. But my story was that I didn't get a lot

00:18:03.289 --> 00:18:05.230
of funding from climbing. It was very hard to

00:18:05.230 --> 00:18:11.170
leave from climbing. Also, we didn't go to a

00:18:11.170 --> 00:18:13.450
lot of competitions. It was very hard to compete.

00:18:13.630 --> 00:18:18.809
So at a certain point, I was training for nothing.

00:18:18.930 --> 00:18:23.529
And I hated that. I also felt that I had level.

00:18:23.930 --> 00:18:27.609
And when you are young, you have a lot of power.

00:18:29.390 --> 00:18:33.210
Somehow I lost that time. I don't think I lost

00:18:33.210 --> 00:18:37.950
it, sorry. I think that just I moved everything

00:18:37.950 --> 00:18:44.970
a little bit further. But yeah, sometimes I think

00:18:44.970 --> 00:18:47.470
about that, especially watching about the kids

00:18:47.470 --> 00:18:50.930
that now are pushing so hard on the competitions.

00:18:51.069 --> 00:18:54.329
I think about myself and I say, wow, what if

00:18:54.329 --> 00:18:59.789
I was there all the time? Maybe the story, Would

00:18:59.789 --> 00:19:02.690
have been different. Nobody knows. But once again,

00:19:02.769 --> 00:19:06.309
that was one of the problems of living in Venezuela.

00:19:06.549 --> 00:19:14.369
So imagine a sporting institution, corrupt, centralized.

00:19:15.470 --> 00:19:20.250
We weren't an Olympic sport. So it was very hard

00:19:20.250 --> 00:19:22.869
for climbing. But also it was very hard for living

00:19:22.869 --> 00:19:27.170
in general. Like all the industry got destroyed.

00:19:29.259 --> 00:19:34.160
Like, you have to be with them or you have to

00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:40.880
be fucked. So I decided that I didn't want to...

00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:44.099
I wanted new things. I wanted to live a little

00:19:44.099 --> 00:19:47.079
bit of an adventure. New moments for me in my

00:19:47.079 --> 00:19:51.980
life. And I decided to move. And it was crazy

00:19:51.980 --> 00:19:56.109
because... Yeah, I saw that everything was going

00:19:56.109 --> 00:19:58.589
bad with climbing. So I said, okay, let me focus

00:19:58.589 --> 00:20:02.210
with my studies. I continue with my economics

00:20:02.210 --> 00:20:07.609
career. But then I realized that I, and I stopped

00:20:07.609 --> 00:20:09.750
climbing. Like I stopped climbing for a couple

00:20:09.750 --> 00:20:13.369
of years. Then I realized that I wasn't happy

00:20:13.369 --> 00:20:17.190
with my life there. So I said, okay, I'm going

00:20:17.190 --> 00:20:21.859
to Spain. Why Spain? Because my dad. My dad's

00:20:21.859 --> 00:20:25.519
roots are Spanish. So I have the Spanish passport

00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:28.700
since I was born because my dad was born in Vigo,

00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:33.480
which is a city, a port city near to Portugal.

00:20:33.980 --> 00:20:37.880
So there is a lot that I am Spanish. Okay. So

00:20:37.880 --> 00:20:42.680
I had also some family here in Madrid. And this

00:20:42.680 --> 00:20:46.650
was the first family where I went to. I call

00:20:46.650 --> 00:20:49.750
them my saviors. This is, of course, exaggerated,

00:20:49.930 --> 00:20:52.670
but I appreciate them so much because they opened

00:20:52.670 --> 00:20:57.450
to me the doors of their home when I was in this

00:20:57.450 --> 00:21:00.130
situation. So for me, these people is my family.

00:21:00.289 --> 00:21:06.710
It's my godmother. So, yeah, basically, that's

00:21:06.710 --> 00:21:09.630
what... Having the passport and having family,

00:21:09.670 --> 00:21:11.829
of course, was the main reason to move to Spain.

00:21:12.230 --> 00:21:16.029
And then... When I arrived, I wasn't sure what

00:21:16.029 --> 00:21:17.970
to do with my life. I was a little bit lost,

00:21:18.089 --> 00:21:20.210
to be honest. Like, I don't know, continue with

00:21:20.210 --> 00:21:25.309
my economic career. I didn't know what to do.

00:21:25.390 --> 00:21:30.789
I even started to learn and to prepare some proof

00:21:30.789 --> 00:21:34.809
to be fighter fighter here in Spain. It's like

00:21:34.809 --> 00:21:40.630
a very good job opportunity here. So I decided

00:21:40.630 --> 00:21:43.990
to try. I didn't know what to do. But, you know,

00:21:44.089 --> 00:21:48.549
climbing for me has been always a pain reliever,

00:21:48.609 --> 00:21:52.789
not only physically. Actually, physically, it

00:21:52.789 --> 00:21:57.789
only led me with a lot of pain. But for my soul,

00:21:58.049 --> 00:22:01.009
it has been always like a pain reliever. So,

00:22:01.069 --> 00:22:04.109
I don't know, I have been related to sports always.

00:22:04.150 --> 00:22:09.009
So, for me, I just have never stopped. doing

00:22:09.009 --> 00:22:12.890
sports and moving my body is something that I

00:22:12.890 --> 00:22:15.269
really enjoy that I really like it's very important

00:22:15.269 --> 00:22:19.750
for me so I just came here and while I was looking

00:22:19.750 --> 00:22:25.369
what is Eric Noya I was keep climbing and doing

00:22:25.369 --> 00:22:30.200
sport so That's when I ended up Spanish champion.

00:22:30.460 --> 00:22:34.920
Then I knew people here that wanted to start

00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:38.359
to do something with speed because speed in Spain

00:22:38.359 --> 00:22:42.200
was not developed at all. Like I came here in

00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:46.119
2017 to Madrid specifically because they built

00:22:46.119 --> 00:22:50.180
there the first wall in 2017. Like imagine, that's

00:22:50.180 --> 00:22:56.470
very, very old for me, like zero. I came from

00:22:56.470 --> 00:22:59.750
a country that did a lot of stuff for speed.

00:22:59.930 --> 00:23:03.069
And we had a decent development. And yeah, everything

00:23:03.069 --> 00:23:07.809
went to hell. But like Spain, Mecca for climbing,

00:23:07.970 --> 00:23:11.750
having zero for speed was very impressive for

00:23:11.750 --> 00:23:16.690
me. So anyways, I started going into this climbing

00:23:16.690 --> 00:23:21.730
world, the first in Spain. And some people of

00:23:21.730 --> 00:23:25.940
the Madrid Federation. wanted to to learn about

00:23:25.940 --> 00:23:28.319
it of course and then some kids were interested

00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:32.599
and yeah so i started to be involved with the

00:23:32.599 --> 00:23:36.859
speed climbing scene here in spain and then what

00:23:36.859 --> 00:23:42.619
i yeah what i just told before then 2018 spanish

00:23:42.619 --> 00:23:45.160
champion and then i started slowly very very

00:23:45.160 --> 00:23:49.960
slowly to get every time more involved into everything

00:23:49.960 --> 00:23:54.470
and of course the the biggest change of my life

00:23:54.470 --> 00:23:58.250
and everything was Moscow 2021 when I ended up

00:23:58.250 --> 00:24:02.990
second in the world championships of official

00:24:02.990 --> 00:24:06.269
Olympic sport. That was like the main change

00:24:06.269 --> 00:24:09.049
of everything. And I guess I'm kind of surprised

00:24:09.049 --> 00:24:14.490
about I guess like how much investment Venezuela

00:24:14.490 --> 00:24:18.349
had in like speed climbing and climbing in general

00:24:18.349 --> 00:24:20.750
because we just don't really see them that much

00:24:20.750 --> 00:24:23.970
on the international circuit. Yes. That's crazy.

00:24:24.130 --> 00:24:26.589
Okay, I'm very happy that you say this because

00:24:26.589 --> 00:24:32.289
maybe it's about time to, I don't know, tell

00:24:32.289 --> 00:24:36.349
the story. But back in those days, Venezuela

00:24:36.349 --> 00:24:43.250
was a very, very strong country. I can easily

00:24:43.250 --> 00:24:46.309
say that in South America, we were the strongest.

00:24:47.670 --> 00:24:52.019
Maybe Ecuador, we... could argue with me and

00:24:52.019 --> 00:24:55.160
yeah maybe i'm wrong but ecuador and venezuela

00:24:55.160 --> 00:25:00.619
were the strongest okay so uh our scene was very

00:25:00.619 --> 00:25:06.640
nice very intense and we we had this like soviet

00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:11.740
approach you know where the scene the indoor

00:25:11.740 --> 00:25:15.759
scene was very competitive and we went even to

00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:19.779
international competitions they this First generation

00:25:19.779 --> 00:25:24.420
gave us a lot of funding. People that went and

00:25:24.420 --> 00:25:27.859
won the rock masters. I don't know if you remember

00:25:27.859 --> 00:25:30.799
this competition in Arco. Those were very important

00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:35.099
achievements and they just not increased the

00:25:35.099 --> 00:25:37.940
budget, but they were also a reference for me.

00:25:38.019 --> 00:25:41.019
You know, I saw this when I was eight years old.

00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:45.859
that generation that made me so we own them very

00:25:45.859 --> 00:25:49.519
much and it was a very very important generation

00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:54.660
because i'm not a isolated case you have the

00:25:54.660 --> 00:25:58.519
leslie case which is also competing for spain

00:25:58.519 --> 00:26:01.140
comes from venezuela and she went even to the

00:26:01.140 --> 00:26:04.319
olympics she had an olympic diploma she's also

00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:09.940
from from this school this generation so even

00:26:11.720 --> 00:26:15.779
I don't remember the exact year, but beginning

00:26:15.779 --> 00:26:20.839
of 2000, Venezuela was traveling with a delegation

00:26:20.839 --> 00:26:24.359
of 20 athletes or something like that. Yeah,

00:26:24.359 --> 00:26:27.539
yeah, yeah, yeah. And for many years, we had

00:26:27.539 --> 00:26:32.660
in San Juan de los Morros the best facility in

00:26:32.660 --> 00:26:38.160
South America. Easy, easy, easy. Yeah, I remember

00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:41.859
that when we went to Pan Americans. Our biggest

00:26:41.859 --> 00:26:45.740
competition was Ecuadorians and USA, of course.

00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:53.880
So especially in Burle and Lid, in Speed, we

00:26:53.880 --> 00:26:56.799
were, I don't want to brag, but we were very

00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:01.339
good. I think we had a lot of Russian -Chinese

00:27:01.339 --> 00:27:08.220
influence, maybe, or the fundings for doing results.

00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:12.019
And so I guess like what happened since then?

00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:14.759
You think just like the lack of funding that

00:27:14.759 --> 00:27:19.039
eventually... Yes, of course. Like this big political

00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:24.220
chaos just went to all the layers from the society

00:27:24.220 --> 00:27:30.559
and the economy. And like they spent all the

00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:34.799
money like crazy. So at a certain point, we were

00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:38.549
able to do some... trips and some competitions

00:27:38.549 --> 00:27:42.230
which are the ones that you see in my old profile

00:27:42.230 --> 00:27:48.990
but then suddenly everything stopped like they

00:27:48.990 --> 00:27:52.630
centralized so much the power that they changed

00:27:52.630 --> 00:27:58.650
the laws of sport so they can keep with the heads

00:27:58.650 --> 00:28:03.349
of all the federations or from many federations

00:28:03.349 --> 00:28:07.640
in Venezuela so we didn't have or own organizations,

00:28:08.220 --> 00:28:12.799
so to speak, in a certain period. And of course,

00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:17.000
this period was pure darkness, no internal federation,

00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:21.019
so we had no competitions, no money, no organization

00:28:21.019 --> 00:28:25.059
at all. It was like a black hole for Venezuela.

00:28:26.839 --> 00:28:29.740
To be honest, I don't know how is the situation

00:28:29.740 --> 00:28:33.940
now 100%, but I know that... They are trying

00:28:33.940 --> 00:28:36.660
to rebuild everything. And there is a team now

00:28:36.660 --> 00:28:41.299
working to put all the pieces again together.

00:28:41.539 --> 00:28:45.420
And we saw them for the first time last year,

00:28:45.480 --> 00:28:49.099
I think, in some World Cups. And this year, they

00:28:49.099 --> 00:28:51.299
want to join also in a couple of World Cups.

00:28:51.420 --> 00:28:55.839
So I'm very happy about it. But it was like that.

00:28:55.960 --> 00:29:00.660
Like, we had a peak. We were nice there. And

00:29:00.660 --> 00:29:05.640
then... geez so it wasn't like a slow deterioration

00:29:05.640 --> 00:29:09.740
it was just like immediately one day just from

00:29:09.740 --> 00:29:14.220
my from my point of view it was slow but in a

00:29:14.220 --> 00:29:17.700
history period it was like this quick of course

00:29:17.700 --> 00:29:20.339
because i grew up i went to some competitions

00:29:20.339 --> 00:29:25.839
and then okay i saw a little bit my my friends

00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:28.539
going to competitions whatever but then when

00:29:28.539 --> 00:29:35.480
i was 16, 17, then they didn't take us to international

00:29:35.480 --> 00:29:41.259
competitions. And then 2000, no, sorry, 2014,

00:29:41.579 --> 00:29:46.539
no competitions. Then 2015, no national competitions.

00:29:47.079 --> 00:29:52.240
2016, complete darkness. 2017, I said, screw

00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:57.670
this, you know? So it was like... Every year

00:29:57.670 --> 00:30:00.009
a little worse, worse, worse, worse, worse. And

00:30:00.009 --> 00:30:02.750
then suddenly it was nothing. It was nothing

00:30:02.750 --> 00:30:06.130
anymore. Crazy because I still went to the climbing

00:30:06.130 --> 00:30:08.849
gym, of course. And I kept climbing. I kept watching

00:30:08.849 --> 00:30:12.930
my friends. Many of them started to flee. And

00:30:12.930 --> 00:30:15.609
that was a sign for me. Like, okay, everybody's

00:30:15.609 --> 00:30:17.970
leaving. And then many friends also were doing

00:30:17.970 --> 00:30:23.160
good outside. climbing jobs or different from

00:30:23.160 --> 00:30:26.079
climbing or something related with ropes and

00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:28.920
heights but everyone was striving so for me that

00:30:28.920 --> 00:30:33.059
was a sign that I had to do it as well and it

00:30:33.059 --> 00:30:35.920
was the best decision ever I should have taken

00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:39.720
it way before to be honest but oh yeah it's hard

00:30:39.720 --> 00:30:42.980
to move so it's very hard to move yeah yeah and

00:30:42.980 --> 00:30:48.660
I trusted also like a change in Venezuela so

00:30:48.660 --> 00:30:52.259
I fought for it and I was living very nice with

00:30:52.259 --> 00:30:55.079
my family and I loved the environment there so

00:30:55.079 --> 00:30:59.259
it was a lot of attachment and yeah it was hard

00:30:59.259 --> 00:31:04.079
for me to to let go but but yeah after everything

00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:07.759
happened I think that I should have moved before

00:31:07.759 --> 00:31:12.079
way before yeah How was the move to Spain? I

00:31:12.079 --> 00:31:14.099
think that was another Instagram question that

00:31:14.099 --> 00:31:17.220
came in just in terms of daily life and training.

00:31:17.799 --> 00:31:25.299
Yes, I arrived to my godmother house and like

00:31:25.299 --> 00:31:31.140
you get a pension. I don't know how to say that.

00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:34.740
Like when you retire. A pension, yeah. A pension,

00:31:34.819 --> 00:31:38.099
right? Like I got a smaller pension and it's

00:31:38.099 --> 00:31:41.579
called. The translation would be like pension

00:31:41.579 --> 00:31:46.740
del emigrante retornado. It's like foreigners

00:31:46.740 --> 00:31:52.799
that come back pension. Oh, okay. I see. So I

00:31:52.799 --> 00:31:56.039
received like a little funding. With this, I

00:31:56.039 --> 00:32:02.059
paid a gym to go to training, but like a normal

00:32:02.059 --> 00:32:07.279
lifting gym. And I made contact with the Federation

00:32:07.279 --> 00:32:09.619
of Madrid. thanks to a friend that was living

00:32:09.619 --> 00:32:14.500
in Madrid. And they wanted to know me. And we

00:32:14.500 --> 00:32:19.579
did a first session. Once again, that was the

00:32:19.579 --> 00:32:22.519
first time they were watching the speed route.

00:32:23.059 --> 00:32:26.380
So suddenly, a guy from Venezuela comes, and

00:32:26.380 --> 00:32:30.900
he knows about the route. And I started climbing

00:32:30.900 --> 00:32:34.500
there. They saw it, and they liked it. And this

00:32:34.500 --> 00:32:38.039
person from the Madrid Federation, who... nowadays

00:32:38.039 --> 00:32:40.920
funny story is the vice president of the spanish

00:32:40.920 --> 00:32:45.259
federation she wanted to teach the kids and to

00:32:45.259 --> 00:32:48.680
have a team of speed in madrid so she said to

00:32:48.680 --> 00:32:51.900
me like okay eric first join the team of course

00:32:51.900 --> 00:32:55.500
we want you to compete for madrid and give some

00:32:55.500 --> 00:33:01.259
lessons to the kid so um i got passes to the

00:33:01.259 --> 00:33:06.359
gym thanks to the federation of madrid and And

00:33:06.359 --> 00:33:11.180
I started to give classes one day of a month

00:33:11.180 --> 00:33:16.519
to the Madrid Federation. And I was using the

00:33:16.519 --> 00:33:18.440
funds that I received from the government to

00:33:18.440 --> 00:33:22.920
study for the firefighter academy. But at a certain

00:33:22.920 --> 00:33:26.500
point, this pension, of course, it's over. So

00:33:26.500 --> 00:33:31.740
that's when I start to work in a proper climbing

00:33:31.740 --> 00:33:38.440
gym. And yeah, I stopped to do the firefighter

00:33:38.440 --> 00:33:44.000
stuff. Like I did the test to get in. I didn't

00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:46.500
approve. It is very hard. It's very competitive.

00:33:47.019 --> 00:33:51.859
So I said like, okay, I don't know later, but

00:33:51.859 --> 00:33:53.980
I need to win money. So I started to work in

00:33:53.980 --> 00:33:58.180
a climbing gym. That was like the first big step

00:33:58.180 --> 00:34:03.470
to become a 100. percent climbing related uh

00:34:03.470 --> 00:34:09.309
worker and living by living person okay so yeah

00:34:09.309 --> 00:34:13.909
i started to do some some day uh some certain

00:34:13.909 --> 00:34:18.389
day classes uh for a gym whatever working with

00:34:18.389 --> 00:34:21.550
kids i did everything what you cannot imagine

00:34:21.550 --> 00:34:24.889
like watching holds everything oh yeah giving

00:34:24.889 --> 00:34:29.960
food everything and um Then working also with

00:34:29.960 --> 00:34:33.000
the Spanish Federation and training. Of course,

00:34:33.019 --> 00:34:36.199
at the same time, I was training. With who? With

00:34:36.199 --> 00:34:43.039
nobody. How? Alone. Wow. There is a super funny

00:34:43.039 --> 00:34:47.519
story. The little kids wanted to do speed climbing,

00:34:47.639 --> 00:34:53.059
but they had classes once a month. Or I pushed

00:34:53.059 --> 00:34:56.119
them to go for free to train with me so I could.

00:34:56.409 --> 00:35:01.429
climbed as well and so they had like extra classes

00:35:01.429 --> 00:35:04.969
but then it was another day of the week you know

00:35:04.969 --> 00:35:07.750
from from this whole month but of course i wanted

00:35:07.750 --> 00:35:11.949
to train every day so uh i was pushing everyone

00:35:11.949 --> 00:35:15.429
to to to train let's go to speed whatever and

00:35:15.429 --> 00:35:20.190
then just a little guy showed up he weighed like

00:35:20.190 --> 00:35:24.670
i don't know 18 pounds 18 kilograms 20 kilograms

00:35:24.670 --> 00:35:28.219
whatever The story is that he was climbing and

00:35:28.219 --> 00:35:31.320
then, you know, I needed to train so much that

00:35:31.320 --> 00:35:33.980
I accepted to climb with this little boy. So

00:35:33.980 --> 00:35:37.260
he started climbing. I was belaying him and everything

00:35:37.260 --> 00:35:40.059
was fine. But then we switched. And when he belayed

00:35:40.059 --> 00:35:43.019
me, we did like a flag. Like I started to go

00:35:43.019 --> 00:35:46.099
down and he started to wait up. Yeah. Then he

00:35:46.099 --> 00:35:49.719
had to go to rappel down with the... It was like...

00:35:49.719 --> 00:35:53.079
Now I'm telling the story and it sounds... But

00:35:53.079 --> 00:36:00.099
in that moment, it was so crazy. And then, you

00:36:00.099 --> 00:36:04.059
know, it's those stories of the daily struggle

00:36:04.059 --> 00:36:07.460
that I had to do what I love the most or what

00:36:07.460 --> 00:36:11.300
I like the most. That is speed climbing and training.

00:36:11.619 --> 00:36:14.179
You know, that was the environment for me for

00:36:14.179 --> 00:36:17.800
those days to train in Spain. That was like the

00:36:17.800 --> 00:36:21.260
beginning. It's super hilarious. Of course, it

00:36:21.260 --> 00:36:26.639
makes me so proud that now we have a proper speed

00:36:26.639 --> 00:36:28.920
climbing team and everything and training center

00:36:28.920 --> 00:36:31.019
and everything. Yes. Yes, yes, yes, of course.

00:36:31.260 --> 00:36:33.780
You have to do what you have to do. Yeah, yeah.

00:36:33.840 --> 00:36:39.380
But it was super slow start and so small steps,

00:36:39.460 --> 00:36:42.119
you know, that it's crazy. Yeah, I do kind of

00:36:42.119 --> 00:36:44.840
wonder like where you would be if you had like

00:36:44.840 --> 00:36:48.619
the training center from the start. Yeah, I imagine.

00:36:49.179 --> 00:36:51.539
And the same resources. That would have been

00:36:51.539 --> 00:36:55.920
crazy. And from moment one, you know, wow. Yes.

00:36:56.219 --> 00:36:58.539
And then I guess for those who aren't super familiar

00:36:58.539 --> 00:37:01.559
with like speed climbing training, how does it

00:37:01.559 --> 00:37:04.179
differ from boulder elite training? Is there

00:37:04.179 --> 00:37:06.179
like anything unexpected that you feel like you

00:37:06.179 --> 00:37:08.820
do as a speed climber? Something unexpected?

00:37:09.159 --> 00:37:12.119
No, I don't think so. Actually, the opposite.

00:37:12.719 --> 00:37:15.869
Like it's because and that's. the difference

00:37:15.869 --> 00:37:18.309
between boulder and lead and speed that we train

00:37:18.309 --> 00:37:20.889
on the same route now that changed the whole

00:37:20.889 --> 00:37:23.150
history of the sport and of course the history

00:37:23.150 --> 00:37:29.050
of the training so that's why you don't expect

00:37:29.050 --> 00:37:32.869
anything new because you just go to the same

00:37:32.869 --> 00:37:37.170
route every day but to be honest for me every

00:37:37.170 --> 00:37:41.449
day is a challenge and it's different because

00:37:41.449 --> 00:37:45.719
even though it's the same route You always have

00:37:45.719 --> 00:37:50.619
to improve something. So that's the part that

00:37:50.619 --> 00:37:55.139
it's very, very alike from boulder and leap,

00:37:55.219 --> 00:37:58.920
I think. Do you prefer that? Like having to make

00:37:58.920 --> 00:38:01.340
these tiny little increments on the same route

00:38:01.340 --> 00:38:04.320
every time? Yes, sure. Of course. I love it.

00:38:04.380 --> 00:38:09.980
It's super fun. It makes it challenging and,

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:15.250
of course, different every time. You know, it's,

00:38:15.250 --> 00:38:18.969
to be honest, it's the part that it's most related

00:38:18.969 --> 00:38:23.630
to climbing than just going there and do X amount

00:38:23.630 --> 00:38:25.989
of repetitions. That's the point of view that

00:38:25.989 --> 00:38:31.110
lead and boulder climbers many times don't understand

00:38:31.110 --> 00:38:35.409
that we are also improving in terms of climbing

00:38:35.409 --> 00:38:38.829
on every training. It's not like going there

00:38:38.829 --> 00:38:42.219
and just climb the route. Was there ever a point

00:38:42.219 --> 00:38:45.300
where you just didn't know how to improve? Or

00:38:45.300 --> 00:38:48.340
is there always stuff in the back of your mind

00:38:48.340 --> 00:38:51.440
of little changes you need to make to make your

00:38:51.440 --> 00:38:54.639
time better? No. Back in those days, I had no

00:38:54.639 --> 00:38:57.500
idea how to improve. Back in those days, it was

00:38:57.500 --> 00:39:01.820
going up as fast as you can. It was a different

00:39:01.820 --> 00:39:10.099
story. It was super... caveman way of training

00:39:10.099 --> 00:39:16.460
of approach of everything so yeah of course you

00:39:16.460 --> 00:39:19.099
try to change some stuff to climb faster and

00:39:19.099 --> 00:39:22.300
better but we had no idea how to do it it was

00:39:22.300 --> 00:39:28.079
all intuitive but now from I don't know one a

00:39:28.079 --> 00:39:33.679
couple of years from now there have been a huge

00:39:33.679 --> 00:39:36.119
change and the training have been changing and

00:39:36.119 --> 00:39:41.000
now I think we know how we should do it. That's

00:39:41.000 --> 00:39:45.800
probably also making the biggest change in terms

00:39:45.800 --> 00:39:48.659
of times in the circuit. And that also makes,

00:39:48.840 --> 00:39:53.119
like, it's the biggest reason why we see so many

00:39:53.119 --> 00:39:58.239
young people thriving so fast because they are

00:39:58.239 --> 00:40:01.780
getting the most advanced and the most developed

00:40:01.780 --> 00:40:07.179
training methodologies for this discipline. And

00:40:07.179 --> 00:40:10.880
I think that's so interesting, so amazing. And

00:40:10.880 --> 00:40:14.860
I'm so happy about it. And from all those times

00:40:14.860 --> 00:40:17.159
in the past where you were just running up the

00:40:17.159 --> 00:40:20.719
wall like a caveman and not really focusing on

00:40:20.719 --> 00:40:23.960
any particular technique, do you feel like you...

00:40:24.170 --> 00:40:26.750
picked up any bad bad habits from doing that

00:40:26.750 --> 00:40:29.670
that are hard to break because i feel like you

00:40:29.670 --> 00:40:31.590
practice something a bunch of times maybe you

00:40:31.590 --> 00:40:34.150
practice it the wrong way it gets way harder

00:40:34.150 --> 00:40:37.389
to fix that since you've done it a bunch of times

00:40:37.389 --> 00:40:40.550
that way yeah definitely and that's actually

00:40:40.550 --> 00:40:47.789
something uh that's something with that i'm struggling

00:40:47.789 --> 00:40:54.099
with even nowadays like i have to fix All the

00:40:54.099 --> 00:41:00.340
things from my past in order to keep up the pace

00:41:00.340 --> 00:41:07.699
of the circuit and of the younger generation

00:41:07.699 --> 00:41:12.079
that is coming. But I want to say, I want to

00:41:12.079 --> 00:41:14.619
be honest, back in those days, training like

00:41:14.619 --> 00:41:17.119
a caveman, it was super fun. I love it. Once

00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:19.900
again, the climbing community is always so nice.

00:41:20.840 --> 00:41:23.619
I don't regret it. Like it was super, that was

00:41:23.619 --> 00:41:27.619
delicious anyway. Okay, good to hear. Nowadays,

00:41:27.739 --> 00:41:32.179
having to fix all my, sorry, but having to fix

00:41:32.179 --> 00:41:35.519
all my shit, it has been also a blast. It's super

00:41:35.519 --> 00:41:40.980
fun. So I think it's very, very cool that all

00:41:40.980 --> 00:41:43.760
this happened to me and it's somehow kind of

00:41:43.760 --> 00:41:47.460
the process and this made me connect with the

00:41:47.460 --> 00:41:51.320
people. with the climbers from Spain and with

00:41:51.320 --> 00:41:54.940
the community here. And I think that's a huge

00:41:54.940 --> 00:41:59.900
privilege, you know? And also give me the opportunity

00:41:59.900 --> 00:42:06.880
of strive despite my age, you know? Because I'm

00:42:06.880 --> 00:42:10.840
already what we can call a mature climber in

00:42:10.840 --> 00:42:13.000
the circuit. Good way to put it, yeah. Yeah,

00:42:13.019 --> 00:42:17.329
so... But knowing that I still can improve something

00:42:17.329 --> 00:42:20.789
on the technique that can make me improve my

00:42:20.789 --> 00:42:26.190
times, it's a bit of a good sign for me, of course.

00:42:26.469 --> 00:42:28.530
Yeah, what are some of the bad habits you're

00:42:28.530 --> 00:42:33.750
trying to break? Wow, I fix many. For example,

00:42:33.909 --> 00:42:40.070
on the middle of the route, the skip from hole

00:42:40.070 --> 00:42:44.400
number 8 to hole number 10. I was doing like

00:42:44.400 --> 00:42:49.340
a weird S move because we didn't match on hole

00:42:49.340 --> 00:42:54.539
11. We usually went to left. So before we went

00:42:54.539 --> 00:42:57.840
to far right on this skip and then we jumped

00:42:57.840 --> 00:43:00.880
to the left to grab both holes. But now these

00:43:00.880 --> 00:43:03.980
both holes doesn't exist. And we know that we

00:43:03.980 --> 00:43:10.280
have moved more straight. So like to make a resume

00:43:10.280 --> 00:43:12.500
for the people that doesn't understand what we're

00:43:12.500 --> 00:43:17.550
doing on the... to be more user -friendly, so

00:43:17.550 --> 00:43:22.150
to speak. Basically, I was doing like a snake,

00:43:22.550 --> 00:43:29.050
like a lizard while climbing. And now we know

00:43:29.050 --> 00:43:33.650
that we have to try to keep it up straight. So

00:43:33.650 --> 00:43:37.510
basically, I'm changing all my movements, all

00:43:37.510 --> 00:43:40.309
my muscle memory, which is the hard part, to

00:43:40.309 --> 00:43:45.889
make a correct movement. It's like I knew how

00:43:45.889 --> 00:43:51.949
to dance, but now I have to learn how to proper

00:43:51.949 --> 00:43:56.409
dance or to change the moves to make it better,

00:43:56.530 --> 00:44:01.309
so to speak. And yeah, I was a good dancer. So

00:44:01.309 --> 00:44:04.389
now you change me all the moves and it's been

00:44:04.389 --> 00:44:08.010
weird, but it's a fun challenge once again. What's

00:44:08.010 --> 00:44:10.550
one that you're working on right now to break?

00:44:11.340 --> 00:44:16.019
Oh, the top section. Top section is my nightmare.

00:44:18.000 --> 00:44:23.219
If you compare me with the rest of the circuit

00:44:23.219 --> 00:44:26.039
in general, in all the competitions, it's very

00:44:26.039 --> 00:44:28.519
easy to see that I'm very fast at the beginning.

00:44:28.679 --> 00:44:31.440
And then at the middle, they catch up. And at

00:44:31.440 --> 00:44:37.559
the end, they smash me. So I got to keep up until

00:44:37.559 --> 00:44:40.320
the end. Okay. What's the issue at the top? Is

00:44:40.320 --> 00:44:43.619
it a technique thing or you get like tired? Yeah,

00:44:43.739 --> 00:44:49.019
no, I think it's, it's technique wise more like

00:44:49.019 --> 00:44:53.360
once again, I'm going to more like I'm going

00:44:53.360 --> 00:44:57.400
too much to the left side. No, I'm going too

00:44:57.400 --> 00:45:00.179
much to the right side. And then that makes me

00:45:00.179 --> 00:45:06.119
do a move to the left side. So my gravity. my

00:45:06.119 --> 00:45:08.920
mass gravity center is moving to left and right

00:45:08.920 --> 00:45:15.619
so much that makes the moves even harder and

00:45:15.619 --> 00:45:19.900
um and of course it takes me more time but then

00:45:19.900 --> 00:45:23.539
you say like okay but correctly well because

00:45:23.539 --> 00:45:27.079
breaking these habits or understanding these

00:45:27.079 --> 00:45:32.760
moves is not that easy like i promise you i have

00:45:34.219 --> 00:45:36.639
thought about it i have dream about it i do it

00:45:36.639 --> 00:45:40.619
constantly and 24 7 with these moves in my mind

00:45:40.619 --> 00:45:43.780
and sometimes i wake up and i said like okay

00:45:43.780 --> 00:45:46.360
i dreamed about it or i imagine this move and

00:45:46.360 --> 00:45:48.340
i'm going to the wall i know how to do it and

00:45:48.340 --> 00:45:51.159
i will do it and then i just go and it doesn't

00:45:51.159 --> 00:45:53.500
happen like that oh i totally get that yeah so

00:45:53.500 --> 00:45:57.500
it's crazy it might sound crazy but it's the

00:45:57.500 --> 00:46:00.420
way it is it's the process like if it would be

00:46:00.420 --> 00:46:02.780
so easy everybody would be doing four or five

00:46:02.780 --> 00:46:06.239
right now Yeah, no, that totally makes sense.

00:46:06.460 --> 00:46:09.860
I think all climbers can relate. You think about

00:46:09.860 --> 00:46:12.360
yourself climbing it. You think you have a great

00:46:12.360 --> 00:46:15.019
idea. And you're like, I'm going to go do that

00:46:15.019 --> 00:46:18.440
tomorrow. And then it just doesn't work at all.

00:46:18.539 --> 00:46:21.519
And you're like, oh, this is why. Exactly, exactly.

00:46:22.679 --> 00:46:25.260
You end in the same loop from the day before

00:46:25.260 --> 00:46:29.719
where you didn't understand anything. Yes. So,

00:46:29.719 --> 00:46:31.860
I mean, you're still definitely improving. You

00:46:31.860 --> 00:46:34.900
had some really great personal runs and, yeah,

00:46:35.019 --> 00:46:39.239
like, personal bests. Even in, like, OQS earlier

00:46:39.239 --> 00:46:41.440
this – or, wow, I guess it's not this year anymore.

00:46:41.539 --> 00:46:44.579
Last year. Yeah. Yeah, you had, like, really

00:46:44.579 --> 00:46:48.679
great personal bests in OQS, but you didn't manage

00:46:48.679 --> 00:46:51.559
to secure a big spot there. What are your thoughts

00:46:51.559 --> 00:46:54.679
reflecting on that time? Please excuse this brief

00:46:54.679 --> 00:46:56.699
intermission, but if you're interested in deleted

00:46:56.699 --> 00:46:58.960
scenes from this episode where we talk about

00:46:58.960 --> 00:47:02.039
his favorite competition moment and also whether

00:47:02.039 --> 00:47:04.139
or not it's possible to become a speed climber

00:47:04.139 --> 00:47:06.480
without knowing how to rock climb, do consider

00:47:06.480 --> 00:47:09.559
helping support this podcast on Patreon. Some

00:47:09.559 --> 00:47:11.639
other perks include a membership pin shipped

00:47:11.639 --> 00:47:14.300
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00:47:14.340 --> 00:47:17.079
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00:47:19.710 --> 00:47:22.030
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00:47:22.030 --> 00:47:24.710
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00:47:24.710 --> 00:47:27.110
help out non -monetarily, liking, commenting,

00:47:27.170 --> 00:47:29.550
and sharing always helps a great deal as well.

00:47:29.750 --> 00:47:32.329
Back to the show. To be honest, I gave it all.

00:47:32.409 --> 00:47:38.050
I tried with all my heart. I was disciplined.

00:47:38.210 --> 00:47:43.250
I think that I did all that was in my hands even

00:47:43.250 --> 00:47:46.769
more. And I don't know if this was the reason

00:47:46.769 --> 00:47:49.650
why I didn't make it or maybe I have no idea,

00:47:49.730 --> 00:47:56.090
but I put everything on stake and I did an all

00:47:56.090 --> 00:48:02.250
-in. So I think that was brave of my side. I

00:48:02.250 --> 00:48:06.590
think that I fought it very hard and that it

00:48:06.590 --> 00:48:09.909
wasn't easy to kick me out. Like the people who

00:48:09.909 --> 00:48:13.650
kicked me out, they had to fight it. with their

00:48:13.650 --> 00:48:17.329
teeth. So, of course, I'm proud of that. And

00:48:17.329 --> 00:48:24.150
for me, it was an amazing experience. So I'm

00:48:24.150 --> 00:48:28.690
very grateful, to be honest, of everything, even

00:48:28.690 --> 00:48:32.769
of the outcome. I learned a lot of this process.

00:48:33.489 --> 00:48:39.050
So I would give it a 9 out of 10 because I didn't

00:48:39.050 --> 00:48:44.480
qualify, of course. I leave it with a lot of

00:48:44.480 --> 00:48:49.340
passion. And I think that was the goal of it.

00:48:50.280 --> 00:48:53.079
Okay. I mean, you still... Next time, qualifying.

00:48:53.539 --> 00:48:57.460
Yeah, hopefully. You still continued competing

00:48:57.460 --> 00:49:01.340
right after that. You didn't really take any

00:49:01.340 --> 00:49:05.260
break after OQS, did you? Yeah, I only missed

00:49:05.260 --> 00:49:07.800
one competition that I really didn't want to

00:49:07.800 --> 00:49:13.030
go. It was the same weekend of the... which was

00:49:13.030 --> 00:49:16.489
a little bit crazy. But yeah, then I started

00:49:16.489 --> 00:49:23.309
again because I think that life is like this.

00:49:25.590 --> 00:49:32.010
Not much to add, to be honest. Life is like this.

00:49:32.050 --> 00:49:36.030
You just keep going and sometimes you win, sometimes

00:49:36.030 --> 00:49:41.210
you lose. But my family still loves me. When

00:49:41.210 --> 00:49:43.030
I go to the gym, the people I care are still

00:49:43.030 --> 00:49:47.250
there. The people that I like are still with

00:49:47.250 --> 00:49:50.250
me. So for me, in the end, that's going to be

00:49:50.250 --> 00:49:54.030
always very important and I still have it. So

00:49:54.030 --> 00:49:58.150
it will be very selfish not to think about them,

00:49:58.269 --> 00:50:01.469
you know, when something bad happens with the

00:50:01.469 --> 00:50:04.610
climbing. Is that like your motivation, you would

00:50:04.610 --> 00:50:06.929
say? Because I can only imagine it must be very

00:50:06.929 --> 00:50:11.099
hard to... I don't know, find the drive to get

00:50:11.099 --> 00:50:13.559
back into things or when you're feeling kind

00:50:13.559 --> 00:50:15.960
of burnt out or you work for something for so

00:50:15.960 --> 00:50:19.920
long. I mean, like I knew that it was a possibility

00:50:19.920 --> 00:50:27.480
not to qualify. So I thought about it before,

00:50:27.539 --> 00:50:31.280
like, okay, what if I don't? Well, if I don't,

00:50:31.280 --> 00:50:34.760
I don't. So I think when it happened, it was

00:50:34.760 --> 00:50:38.260
a shock for me. But then I was able also to process

00:50:38.260 --> 00:50:42.940
everything kind of fast. At the same moment,

00:50:42.960 --> 00:50:46.559
I have other stuff that motivated me. Changes

00:50:46.559 --> 00:50:51.159
in terms of coaches, of Federation stuff, in

00:50:51.159 --> 00:50:58.820
terms of life, in terms of many things. So that

00:50:58.820 --> 00:51:03.260
made me also push. I was curious about what was

00:51:03.260 --> 00:51:07.900
their future. bring it to me so i try to focus

00:51:07.900 --> 00:51:13.079
more on that than other stuff and also at the

00:51:13.079 --> 00:51:16.659
same time i lost a huge amount of money because

00:51:16.659 --> 00:51:21.599
not qualifying to the olympics so i have to solve

00:51:21.599 --> 00:51:25.960
other problems okay rather that and keep thinking

00:51:25.960 --> 00:51:29.440
that i i didn't qualify yeah okay that makes

00:51:29.440 --> 00:51:32.559
sense yeah the uh the money issue is always that's

00:51:32.559 --> 00:51:36.699
always a big one Exactly, exactly. But also,

00:51:36.820 --> 00:51:41.420
something that happened, I want to tell you this

00:51:41.420 --> 00:51:45.280
because for me nowadays, this is the highlight

00:51:45.280 --> 00:51:49.900
of the fact that I kept pushing. I didn't understand

00:51:49.900 --> 00:51:52.559
it in that moment. But then we had a competition

00:51:52.559 --> 00:51:58.239
in Madrid, the first four -lane format event.

00:52:03.179 --> 00:52:06.659
We have a new coach now in Spain. To make the

00:52:06.659 --> 00:52:10.179
story short, it was the first time the coach

00:52:10.179 --> 00:52:12.920
was meeting the athletes from Spain to present

00:52:12.920 --> 00:52:19.179
himself and whatever. And they said to him that

00:52:19.179 --> 00:52:22.739
for them it was very impressive and it was like

00:52:22.739 --> 00:52:29.400
an inspiration that I kept pushing. that I was

00:52:29.400 --> 00:52:31.460
still competing and that I was giving the face,

00:52:31.599 --> 00:52:34.920
no matter what happened, you're still there pushing

00:52:34.920 --> 00:52:40.460
and with a smile. They said to him that it was

00:52:40.460 --> 00:52:43.719
very meaningful for them and they learned a lesson,

00:52:43.840 --> 00:52:46.559
so to speak. And the coach after said this to

00:52:46.559 --> 00:52:54.639
me and that meant a lot, like being a good inspiration.

00:52:55.400 --> 00:53:01.219
or better saying, being a good role model for

00:53:01.219 --> 00:53:06.260
the generation of speed climbers in Spain, wow,

00:53:06.440 --> 00:53:11.579
really filled my heart. It was a very good sensation.

00:53:12.019 --> 00:53:15.599
And it happened unexpectedly, you know, because

00:53:15.599 --> 00:53:22.260
that wasn't my intention when I just kept competing.

00:53:22.670 --> 00:53:27.949
Also, I have a saying, or I noticed in my life

00:53:27.949 --> 00:53:35.230
that, like, I say that you relieve pain with

00:53:35.230 --> 00:53:39.110
more pain. And you might think that this is crazy,

00:53:39.170 --> 00:53:42.530
but when you have a lot of pain and soreness

00:53:42.530 --> 00:53:45.210
in the body because of training, the best thing

00:53:45.210 --> 00:53:49.949
to do to let this pain go away is go again to

00:53:49.949 --> 00:53:55.320
the gym. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So I said like, okay,

00:53:55.400 --> 00:53:59.260
keep competing. Vamos. Okay. I don't know if

00:53:59.260 --> 00:54:01.699
I agree with that one personally. I don't know

00:54:01.699 --> 00:54:05.119
if I can do that. Well, to be honest, it pays

00:54:05.119 --> 00:54:08.139
off. After a couple of months, I don't know,

00:54:08.199 --> 00:54:13.239
it was one or two months after LQS, we had, yeah,

00:54:13.320 --> 00:54:15.980
it was just right before Olympics. We had the

00:54:15.980 --> 00:54:19.699
European Championships and I did good. I did

00:54:19.699 --> 00:54:23.829
third there. And it was very, very important

00:54:23.829 --> 00:54:29.889
competition and very important spot. So now I

00:54:29.889 --> 00:54:35.210
think it was a very smart idea to be cold -blooded

00:54:35.210 --> 00:54:37.989
and keep going, definitely. Yeah, no, that's

00:54:37.989 --> 00:54:40.590
good to see. And I'm glad that it paid off. Okay,

00:54:40.650 --> 00:54:44.710
so for the future, thinking about the upcoming

00:54:44.710 --> 00:54:47.789
season starting soon, what's your goal for the

00:54:47.789 --> 00:54:53.320
upcoming season? Well, try to keep it up with

00:54:53.320 --> 00:55:01.699
the pace. Yeah. When I set my goals, I try to,

00:55:01.699 --> 00:55:06.619
of course, aim high, you know, of course. So

00:55:06.619 --> 00:55:09.039
my goals for this season, I really want to be,

00:55:09.059 --> 00:55:13.539
again, in the top 10 of the world ranking. I

00:55:13.539 --> 00:55:18.599
managed to be this year. I want to keep it up

00:55:18.599 --> 00:55:25.539
with that pace. I would love to be top 10 also,

00:55:25.659 --> 00:55:29.860
or even better, top 8 in the World Championships

00:55:29.860 --> 00:55:39.260
in Seoul at the end of this year. Those are my

00:55:39.260 --> 00:55:46.260
biggest goals. Also because in terms of money,

00:55:46.800 --> 00:55:52.400
they will give me the most value. Also, another

00:55:52.400 --> 00:55:56.119
personal goal for this year for me is, of course,

00:55:56.159 --> 00:56:01.480
break the five seconds barrier. And I want to

00:56:01.480 --> 00:56:05.579
be able to do my first four. Yeah. In competition

00:56:05.579 --> 00:56:10.000
or also in training? No, in competition. Okay.

00:56:10.159 --> 00:56:13.079
So in training, you've done it. No, no, no, no,

00:56:13.079 --> 00:56:15.739
no. Ah, okay, sorry. Yes, no, I've never done

00:56:15.739 --> 00:56:18.639
four seconds in my life. Usually I have better

00:56:18.639 --> 00:56:21.559
times in competition than in training. So, yeah,

00:56:21.639 --> 00:56:24.599
I'm expecting to see my first four fingers crossed

00:56:24.599 --> 00:56:28.519
on competition. Hope to see it this year. Do

00:56:28.519 --> 00:56:30.780
you think for most people they have better competition

00:56:30.780 --> 00:56:33.000
results than training results? I guess I'm kind

00:56:33.000 --> 00:56:35.039
of surprised about that. No, no, I think it depends.

00:56:35.380 --> 00:56:39.250
I think it has to do with your age. There are

00:56:39.250 --> 00:56:45.630
many factors. But at a certain period, it was

00:56:45.630 --> 00:56:49.710
a type of better time of training. And then everything

00:56:49.710 --> 00:56:53.110
changed. And now I'm more of the competition,

00:56:53.369 --> 00:56:55.849
PB kind of type. How do you think that has to

00:56:55.849 --> 00:56:57.989
do with age? I know you mentioned age like a

00:56:57.989 --> 00:57:00.210
couple of times. You are kind of one of the older

00:57:00.210 --> 00:57:03.030
athletes. I don't know if it has to do with age.

00:57:03.599 --> 00:57:06.320
To be honest, I think everyone is very, very

00:57:06.320 --> 00:57:09.079
particular. Everyone is very different. Just

00:57:09.079 --> 00:57:12.739
that I live it this way and it's very interesting.

00:57:12.900 --> 00:57:17.179
I can relate to both types of persons somehow

00:57:17.179 --> 00:57:21.039
because it happened to me both ways. But I don't

00:57:21.039 --> 00:57:28.480
know. We can let the science maybe make some

00:57:28.480 --> 00:57:32.809
tests and decide. And speaking of age, in terms

00:57:32.809 --> 00:57:34.750
of being one of the older climbers, do you feel

00:57:34.750 --> 00:57:36.949
like speed climbing allows for more longevity

00:57:36.949 --> 00:57:40.610
as an athlete? Because I mean, I guess it's kind

00:57:40.610 --> 00:57:43.730
of less injury prone than say maybe like bouldering.

00:57:44.250 --> 00:57:48.349
No, I think it's very hard to tell. Speed climbing

00:57:48.349 --> 00:57:52.110
is also very, yeah, not harmful, but yeah, it's

00:57:52.110 --> 00:57:59.139
very intense. I had two broken pulleys. Oh, wow.

00:57:59.219 --> 00:58:04.239
Really? Three partial broken pulleys. So we have

00:58:04.239 --> 00:58:07.000
in the end the same injuries that people from

00:58:07.000 --> 00:58:12.059
Boulder and Leeds as well. So I'm not sure if

00:58:12.059 --> 00:58:16.340
there's a difference between disciplines. And

00:58:16.340 --> 00:58:21.139
also, I'm not sure if I'm better because of the

00:58:21.139 --> 00:58:24.039
age or I don't know. I don't know if the age

00:58:24.039 --> 00:58:29.420
is something that reliable stuff. Maybe because

00:58:29.420 --> 00:58:32.559
of... I have thought about this a lot, okay?

00:58:32.659 --> 00:58:36.760
To be honest. And everyone travels very different.

00:58:37.079 --> 00:58:41.780
I think that because I didn't have many opportunities

00:58:41.780 --> 00:58:44.239
when I was very, very young, I'm trying to push

00:58:44.239 --> 00:58:48.860
as long as I can now that I'm an older athlete.

00:58:49.019 --> 00:58:54.610
So maybe there is other people that... burn the

00:58:54.610 --> 00:58:57.010
attach we say that in Spanish I don't know if

00:58:57.010 --> 00:59:01.090
you say something similar in English like you

00:59:01.090 --> 00:59:04.570
burn your period differently so then in the future

00:59:04.570 --> 00:59:08.650
you want something else you know maybe somebody

00:59:08.650 --> 00:59:12.389
that already compete a lot with I don't know

00:59:12.389 --> 00:59:16.550
25 they did everything they wanted with 10 to

00:59:16.550 --> 00:59:20.610
5 then they say okay it's over for me it's easier

00:59:20.610 --> 00:59:24.710
to step out but For me, I didn't have that. So

00:59:24.710 --> 00:59:28.429
that's maybe why I'm trying to push harder and

00:59:28.429 --> 00:59:35.849
to keep being an athlete for a longer time. I

00:59:35.849 --> 00:59:40.670
think in general, your story is inspiring and

00:59:40.670 --> 00:59:42.650
it's like a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication,

00:59:43.050 --> 00:59:48.510
like never giving up when things get hard. I

00:59:48.510 --> 00:59:53.420
guess, do you have an idea of when to give up

00:59:53.420 --> 00:59:55.500
or like an idea of what retirement would look

00:59:55.500 --> 00:59:59.179
like for you? Yes, of course. Sure. I mean, when

00:59:59.179 --> 01:00:04.619
I see that for me, it's impossible to keep it

01:00:04.619 --> 01:00:11.000
up with the pace of the international competitions.

01:00:11.099 --> 01:00:15.800
I will lower my level to regional competitions

01:00:15.800 --> 01:00:23.119
or national competitions. then probably, I don't

01:00:23.119 --> 01:00:28.679
know. But I mean, when I'm not performing, I

01:00:28.679 --> 01:00:31.300
know that many people and many stuff is giving

01:00:31.300 --> 01:00:35.900
me resources. So when these resources are not

01:00:35.900 --> 01:00:38.920
good enough to make, for example, one final,

01:00:38.980 --> 01:00:43.420
two finals of a World Cup in one year of the

01:00:43.420 --> 01:00:46.079
circuit, then of course that could be like a

01:00:46.079 --> 01:00:50.900
sign and I will step out to maybe... Let other

01:00:50.900 --> 01:00:57.760
people get involved with that risk. And also,

01:00:57.860 --> 01:01:01.780
I think that I have a lot of people now around

01:01:01.780 --> 01:01:05.320
me, around the Spanish team that will also help

01:01:05.320 --> 01:01:11.699
me to show me when it's the moment, you know,

01:01:11.760 --> 01:01:14.980
that's good. But for me, I'm giving results.

01:01:15.139 --> 01:01:18.840
So if I'm giving results, everything is OK. But

01:01:18.840 --> 01:01:22.179
I'm very honest and clear. When those results

01:01:22.179 --> 01:01:27.599
are gone for medium time, I'm already having

01:01:27.599 --> 01:01:30.880
a lot of fun teaching the new generation, teaching

01:01:30.880 --> 01:01:34.039
the kids, and being there with the community

01:01:34.039 --> 01:01:42.699
makes me feel it. That's good to hear. I'm not

01:01:42.699 --> 01:01:46.760
afraid to step up. That's what I mean. Yeah,

01:01:46.800 --> 01:01:50.019
that's good to hear. Yeah, I'm always kind of

01:01:50.019 --> 01:01:53.760
worried when I hear people, I don't know, it's

01:01:53.760 --> 01:01:56.179
really good to have dedication, but then I'm

01:01:56.179 --> 01:02:00.019
always worried for these people who are super

01:02:00.019 --> 01:02:04.119
dedicated, how they'll feel once, I don't know,

01:02:04.199 --> 01:02:06.760
once it starts to go away. But it's good that

01:02:06.760 --> 01:02:10.320
you seem to have a very clear head about what

01:02:10.320 --> 01:02:13.679
the future might look like. Yeah. Also, I know

01:02:13.679 --> 01:02:18.440
that... stop competitions stop competing doesn't

01:02:18.440 --> 01:02:21.260
mean that i have to stop climbing so yeah it

01:02:21.260 --> 01:02:23.139
will be different if you say to me like okay

01:02:23.139 --> 01:02:25.179
now you don't compete you don't climb anymore

01:02:25.179 --> 01:02:29.079
okay it's a different story you know but i will

01:02:29.079 --> 01:02:30.900
keep climbing so everything is going to be fine

01:02:30.900 --> 01:02:34.340
and back to the the injuries you said you mentioned

01:02:34.340 --> 01:02:36.940
um i didn't know that people got pulley injuries

01:02:36.940 --> 01:02:40.199
from speed climbing oh yes this is a lot a lot

01:02:40.199 --> 01:02:43.199
you may ask you may ask their whole circuit and

01:02:43.199 --> 01:02:47.199
everybody's having pulling issues as well yeah

01:02:47.199 --> 01:02:51.519
yeah and it's interesting because lead and boulder

01:02:51.519 --> 01:02:56.800
no it happened also a lot to us and uh in boulder

01:02:56.800 --> 01:03:00.420
and lead there is a lot of there is a little

01:03:00.420 --> 01:03:03.739
people making studies imagine for a speed everybody

01:03:03.739 --> 01:03:07.900
thinks that we don't get injured injuries but

01:03:07.900 --> 01:03:14.210
no we get the same um i think Even if it's a

01:03:14.210 --> 01:03:18.110
jug, okay, the hold is a jug, right? But when

01:03:18.110 --> 01:03:21.289
you go so fast, you don't grab a jug. You just

01:03:21.289 --> 01:03:26.210
put your finger and put as much pressure as you

01:03:26.210 --> 01:03:29.289
can. And that makes you make like a cream. You

01:03:29.289 --> 01:03:32.710
know, we are not grabbing the hold, holding it

01:03:32.710 --> 01:03:35.050
and then pushing. No, no, no. It's just with

01:03:35.050 --> 01:03:40.800
the tip of the fingers and trying to go up. I

01:03:40.800 --> 01:03:44.480
think we still put a lot of pressure in attendance

01:03:44.480 --> 01:03:47.500
and, of course, then in our pulley. And then,

01:03:47.539 --> 01:03:52.780
yeah, we have all those tendinopathias, tendinopathies.

01:03:53.780 --> 01:03:56.880
Same like in boulder and leap. Wow. Okay. I had

01:03:56.880 --> 01:03:58.760
no idea. That's actually really interesting.

01:03:59.219 --> 01:04:03.820
So also, for example, in many moves, you have

01:04:03.820 --> 01:04:08.940
to, like, hold tight a flag, for example. And

01:04:08.940 --> 01:04:11.420
when you're doing this, you're applying a lot,

01:04:11.500 --> 01:04:15.579
a lot of strength on your fingers. And actually

01:04:15.579 --> 01:04:18.900
that was one of the case why I broke one of the

01:04:18.900 --> 01:04:25.780
pulleys. So now that I have a voice, first, all

01:04:25.780 --> 01:04:27.440
the people should know that we have the same

01:04:27.440 --> 01:04:32.199
injuries than lead and boulder. And that it will

01:04:32.199 --> 01:04:35.219
be also very interesting to study this because

01:04:35.219 --> 01:04:39.619
what I noticed also. with my injuries is that

01:04:39.619 --> 01:04:44.280
the protocol for lead and boulder is very different

01:04:44.280 --> 01:04:47.840
than the protocol for speed. So to go back to

01:04:47.840 --> 01:04:49.639
the wall. Yeah. What do you have to do differently?

01:04:50.639 --> 01:04:54.340
For example, I think that because of the way

01:04:54.340 --> 01:04:58.400
we behave and we move, I should have rested longer.

01:04:58.559 --> 01:05:02.019
You know, when you are a lead or boulder climber,

01:05:02.119 --> 01:05:09.159
you can say like, okay, just. do super easy moves

01:05:09.159 --> 01:05:16.460
on jogs um as a way to to heal you know like

01:05:16.460 --> 01:05:24.159
for therapy but in speed climbing like our moves

01:05:24.159 --> 01:05:29.980
are already set you know like there is something

01:05:29.980 --> 01:05:33.219
on your brain that because you know the movement

01:05:33.219 --> 01:05:37.079
or what everything like I was always pushing

01:05:37.079 --> 01:05:40.159
too much. Yeah, that makes sense. Always pushing

01:05:40.159 --> 01:05:43.579
too much. So definitely the protocol has to be

01:05:43.579 --> 01:05:47.039
different. She said to me like, okay, go to the

01:05:47.039 --> 01:05:49.960
speed wall and just climb like in lead, super

01:05:49.960 --> 01:05:53.059
easy. And I promise you, I wasn't even running.

01:05:53.519 --> 01:05:59.440
But it's different. Also, the person that was

01:05:59.440 --> 01:06:03.489
treating me, she was a climber. She was a specialist.

01:06:03.630 --> 01:06:06.889
She's the best person in Spain. But she has never

01:06:06.889 --> 01:06:09.530
done speed. And she hasn't been on the speed

01:06:09.530 --> 01:06:13.949
wall for one week to see what we're doing. So

01:06:13.949 --> 01:06:19.289
we're working on intuition here. And it would

01:06:19.289 --> 01:06:26.269
be nice to have more scientific tools, resources,

01:06:26.409 --> 01:06:30.139
or whatever, or knowledge. Did you ever just

01:06:30.139 --> 01:06:33.119
do like bouldering or lead to try to fix your

01:06:33.119 --> 01:06:35.360
injury? Yeah, I did. Yeah, I did a little bit

01:06:35.360 --> 01:06:39.039
of climbing. Yeah. Cool. Yeah, that's super interesting.

01:06:39.659 --> 01:06:42.619
I had no idea about like speed injuries. I thought

01:06:42.619 --> 01:06:45.260
it was pretty safe. But I guess that's just as

01:06:45.260 --> 01:06:47.920
someone who's like, I've only touched the speed

01:06:47.920 --> 01:06:50.480
wall a couple of times. Once with Albert when

01:06:50.480 --> 01:06:54.400
I visited in Salt Lake. And I did it in like

01:06:54.400 --> 01:06:58.659
40 seconds. So it was all drugs. Yeah, that's

01:06:58.659 --> 01:07:05.360
good to know. Well, there is a big example. It's

01:07:05.360 --> 01:07:10.300
Piper Kelly from Team USA. She competed at the

01:07:10.300 --> 01:07:13.119
Olympics with a broken pulley. Oh, I didn't know

01:07:13.119 --> 01:07:17.340
that. Okay. That's crazy. That's crazy. No, that's

01:07:17.340 --> 01:07:20.480
not good. Everything, like, I can't imagine.

01:07:20.679 --> 01:07:27.230
But it's, once again, it's like a... very clear

01:07:27.230 --> 01:07:32.030
example uh that in speed we have this issue very

01:07:32.030 --> 01:07:36.389
very hard okay that's good to know um okay so

01:07:36.389 --> 01:07:40.010
outside of i guess climbing and speed climbing

01:07:40.010 --> 01:07:43.510
um i'm just thinking back to like retirement

01:07:43.510 --> 01:07:48.730
as well um anything that you like doing outside

01:07:48.730 --> 01:07:51.789
of climbing or speed climbing competitions i

01:07:51.789 --> 01:07:55.980
don't know i'm not sure i i really enjoy The

01:07:55.980 --> 01:08:00.360
adventure, I really enjoy living. So I don't

01:08:00.360 --> 01:08:03.480
have something specifically in my mind, like

01:08:03.480 --> 01:08:06.780
another sport or something. I did a lot of kitesurfing.

01:08:08.219 --> 01:08:13.500
Maybe I start to do kitesurfing again. But to

01:08:13.500 --> 01:08:18.199
be honest, I have no path in my mind. And for

01:08:18.199 --> 01:08:21.600
my future retirement, to be honest, I'm thinking

01:08:21.600 --> 01:08:27.039
now, this day, today. Something related with

01:08:27.039 --> 01:08:32.279
speed climbing. Okay. So, yeah, I don't know.

01:08:32.319 --> 01:08:36.439
I'm not sure if it's going to be as a coach working

01:08:36.439 --> 01:08:42.720
on the Federation. I just finished my sport management

01:08:42.720 --> 01:08:48.979
master degree. So it could be anything related

01:08:48.979 --> 01:08:53.180
with sport events, sport facilities. It doesn't

01:08:53.180 --> 01:08:56.859
have to be with climbing. you know, hard to think

01:08:56.859 --> 01:09:00.699
about something else. Right. Also, I'm working

01:09:00.699 --> 01:09:06.220
on a small personal project, which I'm very happy.

01:09:07.199 --> 01:09:13.100
I'm creating like a climbing clothes and accessory

01:09:13.100 --> 01:09:19.619
brand. Okay, cool. Yeah. So I'm really getting

01:09:19.619 --> 01:09:23.060
into like... making the designs, creating the

01:09:23.060 --> 01:09:26.699
web, creating some hoodies, some t -shirts, some

01:09:26.699 --> 01:09:30.079
stickers, some stuff related to climbing. And

01:09:30.079 --> 01:09:33.439
also I'm doing stuff related with speed climbing

01:09:33.439 --> 01:09:38.380
for older lead and rock climbing. There is a

01:09:38.380 --> 01:09:41.720
lot of stuff on the market, but for speed climbing,

01:09:41.840 --> 01:09:47.949
there's nothing. There will still be stuff from

01:09:47.949 --> 01:09:50.609
Boulder Elite and Rocks, of course, of everything.

01:09:50.789 --> 01:09:55.630
I don't want to close it just to one niche. But

01:09:55.630 --> 01:09:58.329
the highlight is that I'm going to include stuff

01:09:58.329 --> 01:10:02.170
for speed. So I'm currently having a lot of fun,

01:10:02.289 --> 01:10:05.529
like I said, thinking about the designs. Oh,

01:10:05.569 --> 01:10:07.710
this is cool. This is going to work. No, this

01:10:07.710 --> 01:10:11.859
is not going to work. And I received some. some

01:10:11.859 --> 01:10:13.960
material oh i don't like this i want to change

01:10:13.960 --> 01:10:17.460
this oh now this is broken i have to so it has

01:10:17.460 --> 01:10:20.180
been a fun for it to be honest okay really exciting

01:10:20.180 --> 01:10:22.699
i can't wait to see it is it gonna like come

01:10:22.699 --> 01:10:25.199
out soon or yeah yeah it's gonna come out soon

01:10:25.199 --> 01:10:29.180
um i hope that maybe i don't know when is this

01:10:29.180 --> 01:10:33.239
postcard uh gonna be out live i think early may

01:10:33.239 --> 01:10:38.319
actually Yes, sure. Okay, perfect. I thought

01:10:38.319 --> 01:10:44.079
it was soon. Yes, it is. Perfect. By then, please,

01:10:44.220 --> 01:10:48.319
everyone, go and visit climbgurus .com. It's

01:10:48.319 --> 01:10:57.159
a super nice apparel and climbing shop. And for

01:10:57.159 --> 01:10:59.939
sure, by that time, it's going to be ready. I

01:10:59.939 --> 01:11:03.020
hope, actually, in the next couple of weeks.

01:11:04.650 --> 01:11:08.489
start doing the marketing campaign and everything

01:11:08.489 --> 01:11:11.609
wow exciting okay i will leave a link in the

01:11:11.609 --> 01:11:13.430
description so people can take a look that'll

01:11:13.430 --> 01:11:16.149
be awesome let's see what happens let's see what

01:11:16.149 --> 01:11:18.590
happens that's cool how did you get the idea

01:11:18.590 --> 01:11:23.390
for this to be honest first i want to they sell

01:11:23.390 --> 01:11:25.329
some stuff from speed climbing on the competition

01:11:25.329 --> 01:11:29.329
and it's very bad and there is nothing for climbing

01:11:29.329 --> 01:11:32.100
and Also, like I said, I lost a lot of money

01:11:32.100 --> 01:11:37.039
not qualifying to the OQS. So now I'm working

01:11:37.039 --> 01:11:45.279
in plan B, C, D, 1, 2, 3, A, you know, like everything.

01:11:45.420 --> 01:11:50.239
I'm trying to keep it up. So this was one of

01:11:50.239 --> 01:11:56.680
the ideas. And I like to do some drawings, design.

01:11:57.500 --> 01:12:00.380
And now with the mid -journey, it's crazy the

01:12:00.380 --> 01:12:02.520
stuff you can do with the AI. So I was having

01:12:02.520 --> 01:12:07.140
fun. And then everything started to come up together.

01:12:07.359 --> 01:12:09.920
I have a friend who is a graffiti writer, a graffiti

01:12:09.920 --> 01:12:13.699
painter. And I was talking to him what I was

01:12:13.699 --> 01:12:16.579
doing. I really love the stuff he does. Actually,

01:12:16.619 --> 01:12:21.520
he's also a climber. And I had a small wall in

01:12:21.520 --> 01:12:23.880
my house in Venezuela where I climbed. And he

01:12:23.880 --> 01:12:26.670
went always to do graffitis. I have a very close

01:12:26.670 --> 01:12:31.869
friend, and he was the one who told me, like,

01:12:31.949 --> 01:12:36.010
how to make the business feasible, you know?

01:12:36.449 --> 01:12:38.949
Like, oh, bro, yeah. Like I said, like, yeah,

01:12:38.970 --> 01:12:40.810
I'm doing this, I'm doing that, but I have also

01:12:40.810 --> 01:12:42.710
this money issue. And he's like, okay, you can

01:12:42.710 --> 01:12:49.310
do this. So I really want to do quality stuff,

01:12:49.510 --> 01:12:52.130
nice stuff, stuff that the people like. Like

01:12:52.130 --> 01:12:55.220
I said, there's nothing for speed. I think there

01:12:55.220 --> 01:12:59.880
is a niche of nice people that may need good

01:12:59.880 --> 01:13:07.640
apparel. But also I'm trying to create a business

01:13:07.640 --> 01:13:11.359
of this and to create some income to keep speed

01:13:11.359 --> 01:13:18.880
climbing. Because that's also nice that I feel

01:13:18.880 --> 01:13:21.260
it's like the community helping the community.

01:13:22.700 --> 01:13:25.159
Because with that money, I'm going to keep doing

01:13:25.159 --> 01:13:27.899
speed climbing, of course. Awesome. I can't wait

01:13:27.899 --> 01:13:31.079
to see it. It's worldwide shipping, so everybody

01:13:31.079 --> 01:13:37.039
in the globe can buy and get the link and everything.

01:13:37.460 --> 01:13:40.800
Cool. Okay. I guess those are all the questions

01:13:40.800 --> 01:13:43.920
I had. We had a couple of Discord and Instagram

01:13:43.920 --> 01:13:48.000
questions come through that we'll go into. First

01:13:48.000 --> 01:13:51.279
one, I think you kind of were hinting at this

01:13:51.279 --> 01:13:54.359
a little bit earlier. This is also maybe a little

01:13:54.359 --> 01:13:57.239
bit, I don't know, might be a little controversial,

01:13:57.460 --> 01:14:00.939
I guess. What's your opinion on the latest changes

01:14:00.939 --> 01:14:05.699
in FEDME? I guess that's the name of the federation,

01:14:05.880 --> 01:14:10.899
F -E -D -M -E, the Spain federation. Wow. That's

01:14:10.899 --> 01:14:14.840
very controversial, yeah. Okay, yeah. So what's

01:14:14.840 --> 01:14:17.779
your opinion on the latest changes there? Particularly

01:14:17.779 --> 01:14:22.319
the firing of David Macia from the Olympic selection

01:14:22.319 --> 01:14:26.380
for 2028. A little controversial. A little controversial.

01:14:29.600 --> 01:14:35.060
I mean, it's not difficult, but I don't know

01:14:35.060 --> 01:14:37.840
what the people want to get with this question.

01:14:38.000 --> 01:14:40.899
You know, that's the weird part. Like, I could

01:14:40.899 --> 01:14:44.579
be honest. I could say what I think, but I don't

01:14:44.579 --> 01:14:48.859
know if people is going to misuse this. So I'm

01:14:48.859 --> 01:14:53.380
being very cautious about it. So I think I will

01:14:53.380 --> 01:14:59.000
not say if it's, if I'm like my feelings about

01:14:59.000 --> 01:15:02.939
it, I will not say it. I just want to say that

01:15:02.939 --> 01:15:09.500
from a speed climbing perspective, all the changes.

01:15:10.329 --> 01:15:15.010
are being good because um we are now more open

01:15:15.010 --> 01:15:19.289
i was like it was part of the job i was like

01:15:19.289 --> 01:15:23.409
in this facility uh super focused for the olympic

01:15:23.409 --> 01:15:27.010
qualifiers for the olympics and everything so

01:15:27.010 --> 01:15:31.250
we we closed ourselves a lot and now i feel that

01:15:31.250 --> 01:15:34.789
i'm open and that i'm working again with the

01:15:34.789 --> 01:15:39.170
little kids that i'm open with the teams from

01:15:39.770 --> 01:15:42.510
other regions in Spain that I'm developing speed,

01:15:42.770 --> 01:15:47.149
you know, like I'm adding my grain of sand in

01:15:47.149 --> 01:15:53.090
this national community and that now makes me

01:15:53.090 --> 01:15:59.210
happy. But this was going to happen either with

01:15:59.210 --> 01:16:05.449
David or without him. So to be honest, for me,

01:16:09.290 --> 01:16:11.770
like for me it was a little bit of the same if

01:16:11.770 --> 01:16:18.390
he stayed or or no, you know like This is a little

01:16:18.390 --> 01:16:20.430
bit selfish. No, no, no. I don't want to say

01:16:20.430 --> 01:16:22.689
it was the same No, I don't want to comment about

01:16:22.689 --> 01:16:27.649
Speed about boulder indeed, but speed climbing

01:16:27.649 --> 01:16:31.909
now is perfect So that's what I want to say about

01:16:31.909 --> 01:16:35.550
our latest change here in the Federation. I think

01:16:35.550 --> 01:16:38.289
we're working good We're working together. We

01:16:38.289 --> 01:16:42.090
are working with a specialist, Mateusz Miroslav,

01:16:42.289 --> 01:16:49.949
which is the gold medalist for the women's and

01:16:49.949 --> 01:16:55.090
world record holder as well with Ola Miroslav.

01:16:55.810 --> 01:17:00.229
So he's a super crazy good coach, super nice

01:17:00.229 --> 01:17:04.270
guy. And I am really having a lot of fun training

01:17:04.270 --> 01:17:07.699
with him. I just, I don't know too much of what

01:17:07.699 --> 01:17:09.899
happened. Is it like a really long story? We

01:17:09.899 --> 01:17:11.180
don't have to get into it. No, no, no, it's not.

01:17:11.359 --> 01:17:16.380
I mean, after every Olympic cycle, it's like

01:17:16.380 --> 01:17:18.779
classic, just that people want to make a novel

01:17:18.779 --> 01:17:21.520
about everything. You know how it is. There wasn't,

01:17:21.520 --> 01:17:24.920
every Olympic cycle, there is sports elections,

01:17:25.260 --> 01:17:30.819
like federation elections. They got to help new

01:17:30.819 --> 01:17:35.800
elections. So the federation was changed. There

01:17:35.800 --> 01:17:41.260
was a new plancha, like a new guy trying to come.

01:17:41.399 --> 01:17:45.699
He won. He kicked the other people out. And this

01:17:45.699 --> 01:17:51.520
new federation decided that David wasn't going

01:17:51.520 --> 01:17:55.779
to be the seleccionador, which is the person

01:17:55.779 --> 01:17:59.739
that chooses who goes to each competition. So

01:17:59.739 --> 01:18:03.260
I think that one of the mistakes is that people

01:18:03.260 --> 01:18:06.100
are thinking, oh, David is... not going to train

01:18:06.100 --> 01:18:08.119
anymore. No, no, no, no, no. He's still a trainer.

01:18:08.239 --> 01:18:11.840
And I think that he was, he's a very good trainer.

01:18:11.939 --> 01:18:15.420
He still trains Alberto and many other athletes.

01:18:15.520 --> 01:18:19.800
And for that, he's doing like, you can see his

01:18:19.800 --> 01:18:22.699
results. He's doing a perfect job. But that has

01:18:22.699 --> 01:18:27.720
nothing to do with the job of choosing the people

01:18:27.720 --> 01:18:30.500
that goes to this competition or that competition.

01:18:30.899 --> 01:18:34.590
Okay, gotcha. David has now less power to choose

01:18:34.590 --> 01:18:37.050
who goes to this competition or that competition.

01:18:37.329 --> 01:18:41.609
Well, yes, but maybe we can give the chance to

01:18:41.609 --> 01:18:45.510
another person. I don't think that... I don't

01:18:45.510 --> 01:18:49.510
know. It's not bad or it's not good. And that

01:18:49.510 --> 01:18:53.350
was the whole story. But what happened? It doesn't

01:18:53.350 --> 01:18:58.390
apply to us. Because David, before even he was...

01:18:58.720 --> 01:19:01.340
change it or kick that or whatever you want to

01:19:01.340 --> 01:19:05.180
call it, he already incorporated Mateos to the

01:19:05.180 --> 01:19:10.359
team. So speed climbing was already separated,

01:19:10.720 --> 01:19:14.439
splitted before everything happened. So that's

01:19:14.439 --> 01:19:17.739
why it's meaningless a little bit to us. We have

01:19:17.739 --> 01:19:20.939
nothing to do with that anymore. Okay. Good to

01:19:20.939 --> 01:19:24.329
know that it's not like a really... Too controversial,

01:19:24.590 --> 01:19:27.229
at least. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm just cautious

01:19:27.229 --> 01:19:31.130
because you know that people love to speak a

01:19:31.130 --> 01:19:35.050
lot. Yeah, they're bored at home. Eric said this.

01:19:35.130 --> 01:19:38.789
To be honest, all the stuff that I'm saying here,

01:19:38.989 --> 01:19:41.449
they are not meant to harm. They are not meant

01:19:41.449 --> 01:19:47.170
to... I want to create the most positive impact

01:19:47.170 --> 01:19:50.250
on my community, to be honest. And that kind

01:19:50.250 --> 01:19:53.619
of chitchat, if it doesn't create... Positive

01:19:53.619 --> 01:19:58.100
impact, omit it. That's my message to the people.

01:19:59.199 --> 01:20:03.479
Don't pay attention to it. Okay. Awesome. Okay.

01:20:04.039 --> 01:20:06.899
We'll move on then. So next question. What do

01:20:06.899 --> 01:20:08.800
you think of all the ideas to innovate on speed,

01:20:09.039 --> 01:20:12.479
like relays, changing the route every year, four

01:20:12.479 --> 01:20:16.260
climbers at a time, anything else? Well, I think

01:20:16.260 --> 01:20:19.260
that relays is a very nice format. We tried it

01:20:19.260 --> 01:20:22.350
in Madrid and the result. The result was amazing.

01:20:22.510 --> 01:20:26.329
I think everybody loved it. We were able to do

01:20:26.329 --> 01:20:30.970
many runs. The competition in general had more

01:20:30.970 --> 01:20:33.689
sense. We had more opportunities. It was faster.

01:20:34.229 --> 01:20:38.770
That format was very, very nice. About changing

01:20:38.770 --> 01:20:43.369
the route every year, I'm not sure about it.

01:20:43.449 --> 01:20:48.770
That's a tough one. To be honest, we can create

01:20:48.770 --> 01:20:54.029
a new sport. we can do uh on -site speed climbing

01:20:54.029 --> 01:20:58.069
or classic speed climbing and then we have people

01:20:58.069 --> 01:21:04.289
who is very good on um creating new paths so

01:21:04.289 --> 01:21:06.289
to speak and then we have people who is very

01:21:06.289 --> 01:21:11.289
good on be strong and and develop it so much

01:21:11.289 --> 01:21:16.630
technique that goes up super fast but creating

01:21:16.630 --> 01:21:20.020
a mix doesn't make a lot of sense you know having

01:21:20.020 --> 01:21:23.300
having the world record meant a lot to us to

01:21:23.300 --> 01:21:27.159
the olympics to all the all this sport that we

01:21:27.159 --> 01:21:32.260
are developing now so taking taking that out

01:21:32.260 --> 01:21:35.840
it would be messing it up like it would be a

01:21:35.840 --> 01:21:40.600
step back for us so i i wouldn't advise to change

01:21:40.600 --> 01:21:45.060
the route but if we want to see again that classic

01:21:45.060 --> 01:21:48.319
format then we have to create another sport and

01:21:48.319 --> 01:21:52.420
make, like before, speed climbing on site. That

01:21:52.420 --> 01:21:56.619
could be also very cool. I'm super pro into trying

01:21:56.619 --> 01:22:01.380
new things, into keep pushing, like everything,

01:22:01.579 --> 01:22:05.479
create content, everything that may give us visibility

01:22:05.479 --> 01:22:11.659
and grow opportunity and change even the game.

01:22:11.699 --> 01:22:14.579
For me, that's a very positive aspect. Okay,

01:22:14.659 --> 01:22:18.859
makes sense. Thanks. um okay next one why did

01:22:18.859 --> 01:22:21.180
you decide to run the chinese top when no one

01:22:21.180 --> 01:22:23.819
else was and can you give like a brief explanation

01:22:23.819 --> 01:22:27.000
of context of what that is okay yeah the chinese

01:22:27.000 --> 01:22:32.000
tub uh like the classic move you grab food chip

01:22:32.000 --> 01:22:36.939
okay it's very hard not to speak in speed climbing

01:22:36.939 --> 01:22:41.500
uh terms uh i think that might be okay yeah okay

01:22:41.500 --> 01:22:48.170
okay in the in the end move uh people were grabbing

01:22:48.170 --> 01:22:53.409
a hold like a foot chip 18, 20, 90 and then top

01:22:53.409 --> 01:22:58.149
and then I switched to going to the left in that

01:22:58.149 --> 01:23:04.770
moment it was very weird movement and like nobody

01:23:04.770 --> 01:23:12.569
knew if it was better or no but to me it was

01:23:12.569 --> 01:23:17.569
very very clear that it was more straight to

01:23:17.569 --> 01:23:20.470
go to the top like you didn't have to make a

01:23:20.470 --> 01:23:24.010
curve like it was yeah it was a little bit of

01:23:24.010 --> 01:23:27.670
intuitive like I saw it and for me by intuition

01:23:27.670 --> 01:23:32.569
it was much better and and then I said like okay

01:23:32.569 --> 01:23:34.750
I just have to do it and so it worked out for

01:23:34.750 --> 01:23:36.670
you I know you mentioned the top has always been

01:23:36.670 --> 01:23:40.689
hard so for for everyone everyone switch it up

01:23:40.689 --> 01:23:44.310
in the ending of the season okay so everyone's

01:23:44.310 --> 01:23:47.819
doing it now Yes, that was the thing. Like I

01:23:47.819 --> 01:23:53.199
was able to see a game changer stuff very, very

01:23:53.199 --> 01:23:57.319
early. But for me, once again, it was intuitive.

01:23:57.479 --> 01:24:00.180
Like I saw the movement and I tried and for me

01:24:00.180 --> 01:24:02.560
it was very logic. Like, yes, of course, this

01:24:02.560 --> 01:24:06.640
has got to be like this. So people were skeptic,

01:24:06.680 --> 01:24:13.159
but for me it was no error margin. And it was

01:24:13.159 --> 01:24:15.680
crazy because a lot of people, the world record

01:24:15.680 --> 01:24:18.539
was with other techniques. So the people were

01:24:18.539 --> 01:24:21.199
like, why aren't you doing the world record technique?

01:24:21.340 --> 01:24:23.199
You know, it didn't make sense. That's why it

01:24:23.199 --> 01:24:25.979
was very crazy for me to change it. How long

01:24:25.979 --> 01:24:28.520
did it take you to like just start incorporating

01:24:28.520 --> 01:24:30.520
that one instead of doing what you were doing

01:24:30.520 --> 01:24:34.939
before? I think about myself as a very adaptable

01:24:34.939 --> 01:24:38.539
person. So it took me, I remember like one month.

01:24:38.680 --> 01:24:42.090
I was like training for one month. And then I

01:24:42.090 --> 01:24:46.069
was able to put it on the competition. But then

01:24:46.069 --> 01:24:52.329
I switched from foot chip to hold 15. And that

01:24:52.329 --> 01:24:56.609
took me a little bit longer. Wow. I'm just now

01:24:56.609 --> 01:25:01.050
realizing how little I know about speed climbing.

01:25:01.369 --> 01:25:04.609
Because I just, I mean, it goes so fast. I don't

01:25:04.609 --> 01:25:07.430
even notice people doing different techniques

01:25:07.430 --> 01:25:10.529
at any. point on the wall it's just like i mean

01:25:10.529 --> 01:25:14.029
it's only five seconds there's no yeah yeah and

01:25:14.029 --> 01:25:17.590
it's also crazy because i like i don't expect

01:25:17.590 --> 01:25:22.369
you to know the numbers of the hole so when i'm

01:25:22.369 --> 01:25:26.210
speaking i'm saying a number i'm i'm on a part

01:25:26.210 --> 01:25:28.409
of the route and you have no idea where i'm on

01:25:28.409 --> 01:25:32.369
the route so i it's very hard yeah it's really

01:25:32.369 --> 01:25:35.670
hard to explain yeah okay yeah exactly also exactly

01:25:35.670 --> 01:25:39.779
i gotta study that myself too Okay, next one.

01:25:39.859 --> 01:25:42.539
Do you have advice for people starting out speed

01:25:42.539 --> 01:25:46.659
climbing? Well, first of all, have fun. Like,

01:25:46.659 --> 01:25:49.720
try to have fun while doing speed. That's the

01:25:49.720 --> 01:25:54.279
main reason why we do it. And try to climb straight.

01:25:55.039 --> 01:25:59.659
That would be my advice. Try to avoid going from

01:25:59.659 --> 01:26:02.260
one side to the other. And what about in terms

01:26:02.260 --> 01:26:06.760
of, like, training? In terms of training, be

01:26:06.760 --> 01:26:09.439
cautious. It's very easy to break your fingers.

01:26:09.779 --> 01:26:14.100
There is no studies about it, but it happens.

01:26:14.340 --> 01:26:17.859
So hear your body whenever you feel pain on your

01:26:17.859 --> 01:26:24.340
fingers. Be cautious. And sometimes, I don't

01:26:24.340 --> 01:26:28.020
know, like less is more, but also train hard.

01:26:28.779 --> 01:26:32.859
And last question, how was training with the

01:26:32.859 --> 01:26:35.479
Indonesians? Some people noticed improvements

01:26:35.479 --> 01:26:40.659
after. Oh, that's really good to hear. Well,

01:26:40.859 --> 01:26:43.720
training with Indonesians and being in Indonesia

01:26:43.720 --> 01:26:47.579
was life changing for me. I think it's very,

01:26:47.699 --> 01:26:53.000
very nice people. Like in this country, they

01:26:53.000 --> 01:26:57.079
have somehow the same temperature, the same humidity

01:26:57.079 --> 01:26:59.680
and the same kind of feeling I had in Venezuela.

01:27:00.779 --> 01:27:04.840
Also the noise there. architecture many stuff

01:27:04.840 --> 01:27:09.220
remind me of Venezuela and they are also super

01:27:09.220 --> 01:27:13.979
nice so I felt a huge bond with them and we had

01:27:13.979 --> 01:27:17.279
the opportunity to spend more than one month

01:27:17.279 --> 01:27:21.399
with the team training in Santicas in Jakarta

01:27:21.399 --> 01:27:27.779
and of course this super nice environment makes

01:27:27.779 --> 01:27:32.300
you want to push And training with the fastest

01:27:32.300 --> 01:27:36.840
guys of the planet also makes you improve a lot.

01:27:38.739 --> 01:27:41.520
That would be a very cool advice for the people

01:27:41.520 --> 01:27:45.260
that are starting to do speed climbing. Try to

01:27:45.260 --> 01:27:50.460
stick yourself with better people. And yeah,

01:27:51.220 --> 01:27:54.460
stick with better people. That's a very good

01:27:54.460 --> 01:27:58.460
advice. Of course, that's why it was very, not

01:27:58.460 --> 01:28:02.979
easy, but it was, you were able to look that

01:28:02.979 --> 01:28:06.520
I improved after one month. Imagine one month

01:28:06.520 --> 01:28:09.300
training with Vedrick, you know, it was like

01:28:09.300 --> 01:28:13.720
the same. I went to Salt Lake City last year

01:28:13.720 --> 01:28:17.079
and training them with all the beasts that you

01:28:17.079 --> 01:28:19.979
have there in Salt Lake City made me push so

01:28:19.979 --> 01:28:24.050
hard that. I hope that you also would see my

01:28:24.050 --> 01:28:30.550
improvement on the season. But I think I will

01:28:30.550 --> 01:28:35.090
highlight those two stuff in Indonesia. The people

01:28:35.090 --> 01:28:39.090
and the level. Did you ever feel intimidated

01:28:39.090 --> 01:28:43.949
training there? Not intimidated. But, of course,

01:28:44.109 --> 01:28:49.810
I knew that I had a lot of work to do. Okay,

01:28:49.930 --> 01:28:53.560
yeah. Always good to learn from, yeah. I felt

01:28:53.560 --> 01:28:58.060
that I was a couple of years behind them. But

01:28:58.060 --> 01:29:03.840
that's okay. Like I said, it made me push and

01:29:03.840 --> 01:29:08.300
it made me admire them a lot. And that's very

01:29:08.300 --> 01:29:12.300
nice. Okay, that was the last question. Well,

01:29:12.359 --> 01:29:15.460
there were a couple of other people just talking

01:29:15.460 --> 01:29:20.300
about how great you were in the Instagram question

01:29:20.300 --> 01:29:25.020
answer box. Pedro said, Eric's a great guy, always

01:29:25.020 --> 01:29:30.560
helping others. I don't know if you know this

01:29:30.560 --> 01:29:34.880
person, Lili Clymer? Leslie, yeah. Oh, okay,

01:29:34.880 --> 01:29:37.850
Leslie. Yeah, she just asked, how can you be

01:29:37.850 --> 01:29:46.649
so handsome? I'm going to ask her because I follow

01:29:46.649 --> 01:29:52.229
all your beauty advices, Leslie. Thank you. Okay.

01:29:52.569 --> 01:29:55.329
Yeah, I just figured that they would want to

01:29:55.329 --> 01:30:00.000
get the shout out there. Okay, awesome. So that's

01:30:00.000 --> 01:30:02.100
all the questions I had. Thanks for joining me

01:30:02.100 --> 01:30:05.760
today. Any last minute words of wisdom you want

01:30:05.760 --> 01:30:08.899
to get out there? No, just wanted to say thank

01:30:08.899 --> 01:30:11.819
you for the opportunity for giving me voice.

01:30:12.479 --> 01:30:16.819
It was very fun. I had a blast. I hope that once

01:30:16.819 --> 01:30:22.199
again. the people enjoy this podcast and that

01:30:22.199 --> 01:30:26.840
I'm open to anyone who wants to keep chatting

01:30:26.840 --> 01:30:30.760
with me on my Instagram. Just send me a DM or

01:30:30.760 --> 01:30:35.039
whatever. And of course, thank you all the audience

01:30:35.039 --> 01:30:39.539
for taking their time and listen to us having

01:30:39.539 --> 01:30:43.020
a fun conversation. I will link all of that in

01:30:43.020 --> 01:30:45.220
the description. All right. Thank you. It was

01:30:45.220 --> 01:30:49.680
amazing to talk to you. perfect i have a great

01:30:49.680 --> 01:30:52.380
time once again and thank you very much thank

01:30:52.380 --> 01:30:55.000
you so much for making it to the end of the podcast

01:30:55.000 --> 01:30:57.779
don't forget to like and subscribe if you enjoyed

01:30:57.779 --> 01:31:01.619
otherwise you are a super big climber if you're

01:31:01.619 --> 01:31:04.020
listening on a podcasting platform i'd appreciate

01:31:04.020 --> 01:31:06.760
if you rate it five stars and you can continue

01:31:06.760 --> 01:31:09.560
the discussion on the free competition climbing

01:31:09.560 --> 01:31:12.539
discord linked in the description thanks again

01:31:12.539 --> 01:31:18.789
for listening Thank you.