Finishing in style!
Niviuk has signed two new competition pilots, Spaniards José Jiménez and Marcelo Sánchez, aged 24 and 20 respectively. The young athletes have been flying together for some time now and have been standing out from the crowd with their impeccable flying and great work on their Peak 5s. Now they have received their new Icepeak X-Ones and they are ready to reach for the top.
With an ever-growing track record, they have won dozens of national titles in the sport and serial class. They have also made the podium in some international competitions, such as the Pegalajar 2022 Pre-World Cup, where José came third in the serial class. But the most outstanding achievement has been that Marcelo managed to get three new Spanish records and one European record (pending ratification by the FAI), all of them in the same flight last July.
When asked about his best anecdote in the world of paragliding, José replies that many stories come to mind, but the most recent was on a 300 km flight: "When I had been flying for 6 hours, I suddenly remembered to eat. I took out my sandwich at an altitude of 4,500 m and because I was so cold, I didn&39;t grab it properly, so it slipped out of my hand and I watched it fly down for a long time... But the worst thing is that it&39;s not the first time that&39;s happened to me", he explains, smiling.
Marcelo refers to safety: "I have always wanted to improve and have great flights, even when I had little experience and was still far from acquiring the necessary knowledge. One day flying in Cenes, I managed to extend my flight more than usual and reached all the places where &39;the sky-gods&39; were going. With this eagerness I was getting low in a valley when I realised I had no way to get out of there. I tried to make a slope landing, but finally fell into a tree. Luckily, I was totally unharmed and I was extremely happy to have done my first cross-country flight. Until my father arrived and did what he had to do - he told me off. From that day on, he never spoke to me about flight safety again. It wasn&39;t necessary, I learned my lesson".
In their minds, new goals are already forming, such as reaching the highest level of paragliding or being able to compete for big titles; and more precise objectives, such as being selected for national teams and starting to compete in the World Cup. "Although the first and most important objective is to have fun", concludes José. From Team Niviuk we wish them the best of luck in all their goals. Fly high!
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