A tough and disciplined girl like Ilia Topuria

“Laura started practicing karate at the age of five because her father liked her to practice martial arts – remembers her mother, Esther –. There was a gym right below our house and we signed it up as an after-school activity. “We didn’t even know that the gym belonged to Jesús del Moral (Spanish karate coach).”

Covid arrived and the gym closed, but it was attached to a club with great tradition and importance in this sport. Its literary name, of course, was CDE Kárate Antonio Machado, where Laura continued and continues to practice: “I went there with the other children as a hobby, we didn’t compete. Until the coach sent me on Friday with the older boys, who were competing. One day I went to a tournament and came second. Later, when the quarantine (covid) passed, I was already training every day with the seniors to compete.

From there, and in a dazzling way, the successes came. Laura has been champion of Madrid in several categories and, last mid-November, she won the gold medal at the Spanish Cadet Championships held in Jaén.

“She has always been a responsible girl and dedicated to everything she does. She loves hard work and challenges, because they force her to work harder to achieve her goals – explains Jonatan Huertas, her trainer. He is capable of recovering from a defeat, always through effort, sweat and sometimes, why not?, tears. He knows it’s getting harder and harder to get a medal, but that doesn’t mean he stops pushing to improve. He enjoys training and being with his teammates and although it is sometimes difficult for him to listen like any teenager his age, he always reconsiders and tries to improve on his mistakes. And it is clear that he ultimately succeeds.

Laura herself details this effort routine: “The hardest part is studying and, at the same time, practicing karate, but I find a good balance. I normally train for two hours four days a week; On Monday and Wednesday I also go to English, and when I get home, before dinner, I start studying.

“She is a good student, capable of perfectly organizing her studies (she is in the 3rd year of ESO) and her training days, which are not rare, obtaining excellent grades,” confirm her mother and her coach.

The young Madrid girl’s big dream is to participate in the Olympic Games, a double-difficulty objective, sporting and bureaucratic – karate was not an Olympic modality in Paris 2024 and will not be in Los Angeles 2028. Just like on the tatami, Laura does not give up: “I hope that I will be an Olympian again by 2032 (in Brisbane, Australia), that would catch up with me. “That would be the biggest goal I could have, to go to the Games and be as good as Adriana (Cerezo).”

For the moment, her immediate goal is to represent Spain at the European Championship which will take place in February 2026: “I’m going to go to the preselection, something I didn’t even believe in because I’m the smallest in the category, but it’s thanks to the points I scored this year and being champion of Spain.”

In which mirror does Laura look at herself? : “My sporting idol is Ilia Topuria. And in karate, there is a boy from my club, Alejandro Molina, who was world and European champion.

“Laura is an example of hard work, responsibility and with her feet firmly planted on the ground, which will make her a great athlete and, above all, a great person,” says Huertas.

Laura has a little sister, Noelia (10 years old), who also practices karate, has already been a Spanish champion and is a student at “la Provi”. Blow by blow, verse by verse, he will also make people speak.