Irati Idiakez

Irati Idiakez
Personal information
NationalitySpanish
Born (1996-10-22) 22 October 1996 (age 28)
Getaria, Basque Country, Spain
Medal record
Women's para snowboarding
Representing  Spain
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2021 Lillehammer Dual banked slalom

Irati Idiakez López (born 22 October 1996) is a Spanish para-snowboarder who competes in the SB-UL category.

Early life

Idiakez played football at a young age, then took part in sports courses in her home town of Getaria. She was not close to snowboarding until a bus accident in Chile in 2017 changed her life. She lost her right arm in that unfortunate accident.[1] After surgery and still in rehab, she began searching for information. In order not to have any imbalances in her body, Idiakez was told that it was very important to do sports, and she turned to the Basque Adapted Sports Federation. Shortly afterwards, she received a call from the Royal Spanish Winter Sports Federation saying that they knew she had an accident and that she wanted to try them out. They organized a stay in Baqueira-Beret near Lleida, Catalonia. Until then, she didn't even realized para-snowboarding existed.[2]

Career

Idiakez won the silver medal in the women's dual banked slalom at the 2021 World Para Snow Sports Championships held in Lillehammer, Norway.[3][4] She also competed in the women's snowboard cross event where she was disqualified.[5][6]

References

  1. ^ "Irati Idiakez, la promesa del snowboard adaptado". El Correo. 29 January 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  2. ^ Ugartemendia, Unai (23 February 2021). ""Kontrola galduta joan arren, aurrera egiteko gaitasuna izaten dut beti"" (in Basque). Berria. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Lisa Bunschoten trails, falls, recovers and wins third straight world title". Paralympic.org. 14 January 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  4. ^ Houston, Michael (14 January 2022). "United States win three snowboard golds at World Para Snow Sports Championships". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Canada's Tyler Turner beats 'best of the best' for first World Championships gold". 21 January 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  6. ^ Burke, Patrick (21 January 2022). "Pedersen clinches third gold of World Para Snow Sports Championships in Lillehammer". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved 21 January 2022.