Assessment of the cross-country skiing season: “What Ireneu and Carola are doing is amazing”

The press conference to review the cross-country skiing season took place today. Andbank once again hosted the event as the main sponsor of this sports section. Joan Erola, coach and director of the FAE’s cross-country squad, offered a positive but also demanding assessment of the performance of the national team, with Ireneu Esteve and Carola Vila, as well as the youngsters from the EEBE, Ona Ferrando, Quim Grioche and Gina Del Rio. “What Ireneu and Carola are doing is amazing”, he declared.

The event was presented by Josep Maria Cabanes, country banking Deputy General Manager at Andbank, who highlighted the work of the technical experts, Laura Orgué and Joan Erola, “the people who ensure that our athletes are successful”, and congratulated the skiers “for the results they’ve obtained”, adding: “We’ve been working with the Federation and Ireneu and Carola for many years and Andbank is very proud to contribute to placing Andorra’s name on the podium”.

FAE President Josep Pintat highlighted the difficulties encountered during the season due to the problems in each of the countries to which they had to travel to compete and thanked “everyone who’s made this season possible, including the coaches, athletes, staff, club, Naturlandia and the Government, as well as Andbank, for whose sponsorship we’re grateful”.

The technical and sporting analysis was provided by Joan Erola, the FAE’s cross-country skiing director, who stressed that, despite the management difficulties, “Ireneu and Carola have been able to compete throughout the season. Less so the youngsters, as it’s been more difficult, but we’ve been able to do some good work at Naturlandia”.

Erola emphasised that the demands are extremely high, so “we have to understand that when we’ve reached a level such as this, it’s clearly above expectations, but we’re always trying to improve”. The cross-country director believes that it’s necessary to bear in mind “the context”: “What Ireneu and Carola are doing is amazing. The season’s gone really well, we’ve achieved some really good results, but we always want more”.