Joaquim Salarich: The alpine skier helping Spain dream big again

Joaquim Salarich is Spain's great alpine skiing hope who's reaching new heights.

When Salarich finished seventh at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen slalom on Sunday (27 February), he let out an almighty roar of celebration, and there was plenty to celebrate.

To put in in context, Spain hasn't had a seventh-place finish in a slalom since the legendary Paquito Fernandez Ochoa in Wengen, Switzerland, in 1973.

And he was only 0.13 seconds from the podium occupied by Henrik Kristoffersen, Dave Ryding and Linus Strasser.

A delighted Salarich could hardly find the words after Sunday's race in Germany.

"These are incredible results," the Barcelona-based skier said, "I'm flipping out, I really don't know what to say but I'm so happy with all the work done and finally Spain is at the races again."

And the celebrations were doubled when 27-year-old skier Juan del Campo also finished in the top 25, the first time in fifty years that two Spaniards made the second run of a slalom.

That hadn't happened since Aurelio Garcia qualified sixth and Paquito Fernandez Ochoa tenth in Wengen on the 26th of February 1972.

While Spain might be better known as a sunny beach destination, there is a vibrant ski scene too in the north, in the mountains surrounding the capital Madrid, and in Granada's Sierra Nevada in the south.

Salarich was born in 1994 and grew up in Vic, a town north of Barcelona close to the Pyrenees mountain range on the French/Spanish border.

His parents introduced him to skiing at the age of two at La Molina, a ski school just over an hour from home. His older brother Xavi is a keen skier too and encouraged a young 'Quim' (Pronounced 'Kim').

Since then they have lost their father Claudi, but the fire for skiing that he helped stoke is