José Ignacio Fazio
Argentina
| Sport | Speed Skating | |
| NOC | Argentina | |
| Born | 19 Jul 1985
in  Mar del Plata | |
| Gender | Men |
| Higher education | Business - University of Calgary: Canada | |
| Languages | English, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish |
| Personal Bests | Event | Record | Date | Location | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Personal Bests | ||||||
| Event | Record | Date | Location | |||
| 500m | 36.98 | 05 Dec 2009 |  Calgary |
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| 1000m | 1:12.04 | 10 Jan 2010 | Calgary |
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| 1500m | 1:52.42 | 04 Dec 2009 | Calgary |
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| 5000m | 6:55.93 | 18 Mar 2009 | Calgary |
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| 10000m | 15:26.08 | 20 Mar 2009 | Calgary |
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General Interest
General Interest
| Famous relatives | His father Jorge was the inaugural president of the Argentine Ice Speed Skaters Union [UVEPA], which was established in 2006. (jsonline.com, 03 Feb 2009) |
Sport Specific Information
Sport Specific Information
| Reason for choosing this sport | He was an inline skater before spending a year on exchange in Thunder Bay, ON, Canada. He tried a number of winter sports and initially liked speed skating. He was spotted by a number of Dutch speed skaters while competing in Chile, and was invited to train with them in the Netherlands. After several years he switched to short track. | |
| When and where did you begin this sport? | He began inline skating in 1999, before taking up speed skating in 2005. He switched to short track in 2010. |
General Interest
General Interest
| Other information | RETIREMENT AND SWITCH TO SAILING After retiring from competitive short track, he switched to sailing with a focus on kitesurfing. He competed in the sport at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. "I was in skating for 20 years but I always had a passion for the water and the sea. I started with windsurfing and then moved on to kitesurfing. As an athlete you have discipline and physical condition beyond the sport you practise. That helped me a lot for balance, physicality and training [in sailing]. I put the two experiences together." (marcadeportiva.com, 23 Jul 2019) FEDERATION ROLE He has been a director of the Argentine Ice Speed Skaters Union [UVEPA] and has served as a development coordinator with the federation. When he first began competing internationally in 2005, he competed under the International Skating Union [ISU] flag because Argentina did not have a speed skating federation at the time. (Athlete, 11 Nov 2013; isu.org, 2014] |
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| Other sports | He competed in long track speed skating internationally between 2005 and 2010. He also represented Argentina in sailing in the Formula Kite class at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. (SportsDeskOnline, 09 Sep 2020; Athlete, 11 Nov 2013) | |
| Memorable sporting achievement | Competing at international level in both speed skating and short track. (Athlete, 11 Nov 2013) | |
| Most influential person in career | His parents. (Athlete, 11 Nov 2013) | |
| Hero / Idol | US inline and speed skaters Derek Parra and Chad Hedrick. (Athlete, 11 Nov 2013) | |
| Ambitions | To compete in sailing at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris in the Formula Kite class. (marcadeportiva.com, 23 Jul 2019) |