JULIAN MACARAEG settled himself in France to train with the US national team with the hope of getting better results in two upcoming qualifying races for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
Macaraeg, only 18, will vie in the third of four World Cup qualifying legs in Debrecen, Hungary, from November 18 to 21 and at Dordrecht, The Netherlands, from November 25 to 28.
“I’m currently training in Font Romeu [France] with the U. national team for two weeks before the Hungary and Netherlands World Cups,” Macaraeg told BusinessMirror on Sunday. “I decided to train here to lessen the travel load of going back to the US. I’m working very hard to improve and make adjustments on the errors and mistakes I made in the first two World Cups.”
The Filipino-American Macaraeg had forgettable races in the Beijing and Nagoya World Cup editions last October. But he remains confident of advancing to the Winter Olympics that starts on February 4 in the Chinese capital.
“I’m still confident that I can get that Olympic spot for the Philippines—I’m not losing hope at all” Macaraeg said. There’s two more competitions, and I will give them my 200 percent effort.”
To earn a ticket to Beijing, Macaraeg must land in the top 32 of 500-meter or 1000-meter events of speedskating or in the top 36 of the 1500 meters after the World Cup series are done.
He finished third in the men’s 1000 meters, sixth in the 1,500 meters and fifth and last in the 500 meters heats in Beijing and never got to the finals.
In Nagoya, he was fourth in the 1000 meters, fifth out of sixth athletes in the 1,500 meters and committed a technical infraction in the 500 meters heats to also miss a strong result.
Macaraeg is coached by Ukrainian Valentyn Danilovskye.