Ricardo Adarraga

Ricardo Adarraga is a Spanish athlete, racing in the premier Speed 1 class.

Ricardo was born in the coastal town Barcelona in Spain. He started skiing when he was 3 years old with his family on a vacation in Switzerland. When he was 18 he went to study engineering in Germany, where he still lives today in the beautiful town Heidelberg.

A love for speed, skiing and aerodynamics turned Ricardo into the sport of speed skiing. In 2001 during a skiing holiday with friends in Les Arcs, there was a possibility to try the Olympic speed ski track using downhill equipment. Ricardo had to do it. After 3 runs he had already passed 150 km/h and he knew this was his sport.

In 2003 Ricardo started racing the Pro Mondial in Les Arcs in he production class (SDH). Already in the next year 2004 he was all out committed and raced in the S1 class with aerodynamical helmets, fairings and special built speed skis. He reached 197,48 km/h in Les Arcs 2004, 205,25 km/h in 2005, 212,12 km/h in 2007 and so on...

Ricardo is the fastest Spanish skier ever and has set the Spanish national record 9 times since 2004.
240.64 km/h from 2014 in Vars is the current Spanish record and Ricardos personal best.

Grand Valira in the Pyrenees must be considered Ricardos home track, and here he's top 10 almost every time. His best race result is a 4th place in the prestigeous Speed Masters in Verbier 2010. He has acheived more than 20 top-10 results in FIS and Speed Master/Pro Races, and is the current national Spanish Speed Ski Champion.

Ricardo does R&D with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the Fraunhofer Society on gliding and friction in winter sports, both as a tester and engineer. 

Kilometro Lanzado (KL) which is the Spanish name for Speed Skiing is the perfect combinations of Ricardos passions: Sport, Snow, Mountains, Skiing, Speed, Engineering and Sports Psychology.

When the winter is over, Ricardo prepares for the next season by Running, Cycling (both Road and MTB), and Motorcycling.