Top 10 Americas Moments of 2018: No. 10

“The Parapans are this kind of events that inspire me to move forward. That you can achieve more things and get further in life.”

Gabriel Cuadra Holmann was the home star at the Para Central American Games in Managua, Nicaragua, as he stormed to double gold in the men’s 800m and 1,500m T38.

With the year coming to an end, we are counting down the Americas Paralympic Committee’s Top 10 Moments of 2018. Cuadra Holmann’s outstanding performance at Managua 2018 comes in No. 10.

Nicaragua’s most successful Paralympian, who even made the design for the 2018 Para Central American Games logo, was the face of the event and who the fans wanted to see compete.

It was a major challenge for Cuadra Holmann, though, as he switched to longer distances compared to previous events when he ran the 100m, 200m and 400m.

“Now we will start focusing on the 800m, 1,500m and 5,000m. My training has been modified a lot, running more kilometres while trying to gain resistance without losing speed. That has been hard and still need to learn many things,” he explained.

“I was running many kilometres at the beginning but had to stop due to the difficult situation my country is going through. We used to start training very early in the morning and it got too dangerous due to the turmoil in Nicaragua.”

Looking ahead, he wants to compete at the Lima 2019 Parapan American Games and outdo his performance from Toronto 2015, where he took two bronze.

“I am very excited about travelling to Lima and competing against the best athletes in the continent at the Parapan American Games. But there are many things I need to improve before competition kicks off,” he said.

“I hope to perform the best I can and achieve qualification for Tokyo 2020. That is what I am training hard for. I need consistency, to focus on my mental strength, getting to know well the events I compete in and be confident.”

“The Parapans are this kind of events that inspire me to move forward. That you can achieve more things and get further in life.”

The countdown of the APC’s Top 10 Moments continues until 31 December.