Ander Mirambell at the start in front of the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic rings

Career

An Olympicdream.

After four Olympic Games, the best thing about my sporting career has been sharing the good and the not so good with the people I love. Thank you all for pushing the sled.

Ander Mirambell

The record in numbers

Internationalraces
Representing Spain
181
OlympicGames
Vancouver 2010Sochi 2014Pyeongchang 2018Beijing 2022
4
WorldCups
The toughest circuitin world skeleton
92
WorldChampionships
Eleven appearances
11
North AmericanCup titles
2016 and 2020plus runner-up in 2022
2
Internationalmedals
8 wins1 silver5 bronze
14
Spanishchampion
The first in the historyof Spanish skeleton
1st
Olympicflag bearer
Opening ceremonyBeijing 2022
1x

Fourteen seasons in three acts

Start.

No ice track in Spain, no federation behind him and no Spaniard to look up to. A drive in his own car from Calella to northern Europe and four seasons of training before reaching the elite.

Persist.

Fourteen seasons, four Olympic cycles, several surgeries and an America’s Cup won with a torn ACL. Consistency ahead of talent.

Leave a mark.

He retired in 2022 leaving nine Spanish athletes competing, a helmet in the Olympic Museum in Lausanne and a sport that no longer depends on one person.

Milestones

From Vancouver to the legacy

2010
Vancouver: the Olympic debut
The Olympic dream came true in February 2010, on his 27th birthday. Behind him were several surgeries and a major personal financial investment. He wrote a book, «Rompiendo el Hielo», telling the story of how he got there.
2014
Sochi: the confirmation
Confirmation of a Spanish athlete among the skeleton elite, with a big improvement at the start thanks to his strength coach Bernat Buscà, alongside his brother and coach Toni Mirambell. A hard cycle: his progress made other countries stop training with him.
2016
America’s Cup champion
One of the happiest moments of his career. He competed with a torn right ACL and paid for the final US tour himself. The work of physiotherapist Fidel Sust and his brother was key to winning two races in Calgary, one in Park City and two in Lake Placid.
2018
Pyeongchang: his mother’s Games
Reaching these Games seemed impossible after his injuries. At the start of the season his mother was diagnosed with cancer. He turned that blow into motivation and shared the Olympic runs with her and his family. It was the best moment of his career: two months later, she passed away.
2020
A historic double
The first European to complete the America’s Cup double, winning the title for a second time — something only an American had done before. That success made him one of the most important athletes in the history of the sport.
2022
Beijing and the Saint Moritz record
Places dropped from thirty to twenty-five. Even so he qualified in the last World Cup race at Saint Moritz, setting the circuit’s all-time top-speed record: 139.9 km/h. After the Games, his helmet joined the Olympic Committee museum in Lausanne.
El Confidencial
2022
Spain’s flag bearer
At the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics he was chosen as flag bearer for the Spanish delegation. An honour and a responsibility that made him a symbol for the team and the whole country, and recognition of four Games representing Spain.
2022
Hanging up the sled
«I feel this moment not as a goodbye, but as a chance to thank everyone for their effort.» At 39, after fourteen seasons, four Olympic Games and eleven World Championships, he stopped competing to become coach and sporting director of the Spanish Ice Sports Federation.
RTVE
Today
The legacy
A unique project with more than forty candidates, from which came the nine skeleton athletes who represented Spain in 2022/2023. That is where «Skeleton Serious Kids» comes from, the film directed by Daniel Torres Vergé and Jaime Ballada Larrasa.
RTVE Play

The farewell, 2022

«I feel this moment not as a goodbye, but as a chance to thank everyone for the effort that made these results possible. I feel like the runner who crosses the finish line and hugs the family waiting for him. I would have loved to say goodbye at the Saint Moritz World Championship, my favourite track, but my personal future and the future of skeleton in Spain are asking me to set the sled aside.»

«I want to thank, in particular, Bernat Buscà, my strength coach for all these years and far more than a friend; the professionals at the CAR in Sant Cugat; my coaches, Ueli, Mickey, Martin Rettl and Richard Bromley; all my rivals and teammates over the years, who have been my family for months on end every season; the professionals at the IBSF; the institutions that have brought skeleton to where it is (RFEDH, CSD and COE); and my friends and communication managers, Alberto Montenegro and Cristian Mestres. But above all, my family, without whom none of this would have been possible.»

Skeleton Serious Kids