Adrián Rodríguez, professor of the degree in Sport and Exercise Science at the Universidad Europea del Atlántico (European University of the Atlantic, UNEATLANTICO), was proclaimed last weekend as Spanish skeleton champion for the second consecutive year in Innsbruck (Austria), just a week after finishing 18th in his great debut in the World Cup in a first meeting of the course held in Yanqing (China).
In skeleton, a winter sport in which riders slide head down a narrow ice track on a sled, experts say that the first four years of practice are pure training, and that the next four years are the explosion. Who is entering this process is Adrián Rodríguez, UNEATLANTICO teacher who is living his fifth season in the world of skeleton and who is premiering his qualification to the highest category, the World Cup, which hosts eight events around the world.
With a time of 2:09:18, the Cantabrian rider comes from finishing in a meritorious 18th position in China, thus fulfilling the objectives of “debuting and measuring himself against the best.” His next appointment will be the second round of this World Cup in La Plagne (France), starting next week. “I will try to do my best these two years to stay among the best in 2025, the pre-Olympic year, looking ahead to an Olympic Games in which the top 25 compete,” he notes cautiously. Rodriguez is among the top 30 in the ranking and, considering that there are a number of quotas depending on each country, the chances of him making it to the XXV Olympic Winter Games in 2026 in Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo are palpable.
Precisely, in the Campeonato de España (Spanish Championship), he fulfilled another of his goals set at the beginning of the season: to win the gold medal. And Adrián Rodríguez, who made the leap to skeleton from athletics, managed to climb to the top step by a narrow margin of just 0.81″ over second-placed Eloy Fernández, registering a top speed of 116.29 km/h.
After these two fantastic results, the Castreño continues to move forward and is already thinking about his next objectives: the European Championship, to be held in Latvia in February, and the World Championship, to be held in March. Another of his goals lies in the Mixed Skeleton World Championship, an event in which the UNEATLANTICO teacher can boast of having been a pioneer by being the first rider to slide in competition in this modality.
Adrián Rodríguez, who combines his work on the campus with that of the Sport and Exercise Science with his training, preparation, and constant physical activity, is already studying the circuit of his next World Cup competition. Thanks to the great results achieved last year, he earned the opportunity to be among the best, and the UNEATLANTICO teacher is determined to maximize this opportunity to be among the best.