The third-year student of the degree in Sport and Exercise Science of the European University of the Atlantic, Noemí Cano Lopez, has obtained the runner-up title at the European Cross Country Championship in the U-23 category, at the event that she disputed with the sport’s Spanish team in the Dutch city of Tilburg. It is an athletic competition that consists of traveling eight kilometers in cross country.
This was the first time that Cano competed with the Spanish team, finishing in the twenty-third position of the entire race and fourth of the six Spaniards who participated in her category. The UNEATLANTICO student emphasizes, with an enthusiastic voice, “it has been a debut in style, as I had never imagined.”
Noemí Cano has shown an authentic passion for athletics since she was four years old. At that age she was already curious about this sport; however, she began to take her training and her skills seriously for three years. At present, the difficulty in this discipline has gradually increased, until reaching the point where she is located at. To reach the level that has led her to be a part of the national team, “I usually practice 1,500 meters and at middle-distance events, but this year I have prepared more for the cross.”
Born in an environment with great love for sports, her brother has always practiced it and her father founded an athletics school. Without a doubt, both helped Cano a lot to train and commit to this sport. Despite this, the one who gave her the definitive impulse was a friend, who enrolled her in a race just for fun and in which Cano was the winner.
Naomi emphasizes that one of her greatest motivations is “to obtain results, because when they are achieved after all the effort and hard work invested, a reward makes you want more.” Her team motivates her to train and deliver all the energy she has.
But besides, Cano thinks that one of the best workouts, after practicing six days in a row, is to rest. “If you do not rest and do not take care of your diet, you will not recover to do the same or better training the next day.” The student of Degree in Sport and Exercise Science has also participated at events of 1,500 meters; in fact, she did it for the specialty at the Spanish Championship, in which she clinched the third place.