Canoeist Alex Santos won a Portuguese Position KL1 Championship at the Paralympic Games

Hungary’s boat player Alex Santos secured Portugal’s place in the KL1 category at the Paralympics.

On Saturday in Hungary, boat player Alex Santos secured the place that Portugal got in the KL1 category of the Paralympic Games, thus joining Norberto Mourau who achieved it in VL2 in the 2019 worlds.

In the World Cup Final he will find, Alex Santos and Floriano Jesus competed side by side, the fastest of which was to go to Tokyo 2020: Santos came first, in 54.89 seconds, less than 1.65 seconds from Jesus, who was in the 2019 World Cup was a place that guaranteed his share.

Alex Santos came in eighth with 7.20 seconds behind the winner, Hungary’s Peter Ball Kiss, but what really matters is the decision on which one will be stronger today.

“It’s a very complicated feeling to describe. Everything that comes to mind, like training days, eating, and those who are not with friends, all sacrifices. It’s happiness, euphoria …”, the athlete said. 28 years.

Speaking to Lusa, he refutes the notion that his joy is Floriano Jesus’ sadness, remembering that they are a “team” and that, next time, his team-mate may end.

“We have to work together. Few countries have two players at the same level. We have this opportunity. One of them makes the other develop,” the designer said.

Until the Paralympic Games in September, he wanted to “see what’s wrong and develop to try to get a good position”, without even thinking about what that means in practice.

Now, the boat driver wants to party with CC Amora’s friends and embrace Logoplast officials who have supported him “unconditionally” in his dream, including setting up a gymnasium in the building so he can better prepare himself, because he trains twice a day.

Alex Santos was born in Porto Seguro, Brazil, and has lived in Portugal since he was six years old, a country that has awakened “tremendous passion” and that now enjoys the “pride” of acting.