These UvA top athletes are competing in the “Olympics for students”

David Cairo (long jumper, 22)

It will be tight for long jumper David Cairo. Athletics “It’s always important to show your face at the Dutch Athletics Championships,” Cairo explains, where he invariably finishes among the best. Last year he finished third, with a respectable distance of 7.35 meters. He would like to show how far he is now to the Dutch Athletics Union. His personal record currently stands (with a lot of wind) at 7.75 meters and this year he became Dutch Indoor Champion with a 7.66-meter jump.
 
Fast forward to the Universiade, a tournament with a better field of players than the Dutch Championships. Here, too he is aiming for a place on the podium: “Whether that will be on the top step or a little lower, I don’t know.” He says it remains to be seen exactly what the field of participants looks like.
 
“The Universiade is big worldwide, but within athletics, it is not the biggest,” Cairo continues. That - of course - is the Summer Olympics: the ultimate goal for virtually every athlete, including Cairo. He indicates it is “theoretically feasible” for him to compete in the Paris games next year. “And otherwise the Los Angeles games in 2028.”
 
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Two courses of studies
That is in addition to pursuing not one, but two UvA master’s degrees: in mathematics and physics, by no means fields with a minimum workload and level of difficulty. He also completed a bachelor’s in both disciplines.
 
It is a mark of his drive and ambition, which he says he also consistently displays on the training track (at athletics club Phanos in the Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam). “You try to get the maximum out of every workout,” Cairo says. “That basically doesn’t change leading up to the Universiade. But you do become even more motivated and eager during training.”
 
For the time being, he does not want to choose definitively between his science studies and top sports. Says Cairo: “The rules for top-level sports compensation at the UvA are not made for top-level sports students pursuing two fields of study. But I like all three, so I’m going to try to do it all.”
 
“Though it’s not optimal either for your sport or for your studies,” he says. “With the emphasis on the latter.”

Serena Stel (swimmer, freestyle, 24)

According to swimmer Serena Stel, the Universiade is her first major international tournament among senior students. She has swum European Cups and World Cups before - not the smallest of tournaments in terms of size and intensity – “but this is my first really big tournament,” says Stel, “because the Universiade is really an Olympics for students.”
 
She is not short on ambition. Stel wants to use the Universiade to qualify for the World Swimming Championships, and then secure participation in the Summer Olympics, ideally the Paris games in 2024, and otherwise those in LA, four years later. Just like Cairo.
 
To reach her goal, she will aim for a final spot at the Universiade in the 400, 800, and 1,500-meter freestyle. For that, she must finish among the eight fastest times in the series. It is striking that her fastest times are not that far off from previous Universiade medalists. But she still feels she has no real chance of winning a medal. “In general, the level is high at these competitions,” says Stel.
 
First, let’s get to the finals. “Then see what I can do there.”
 
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Planning ahead
So don’t rush ahead, is the motto. After all, it all happened rather quickly for Stel: in 2022 and the year before, she didn’t even meet the qualification requirements for the Universiade. Her times were not yet fast enough in the pool, partly because she focused on competitive swimming in open water. At about 10 kilometers, those distances are considerably longer than the short distances in the pool. But studies also played a role.
 
Stel is pursuing a master’s degree in medical technology and physics, with courses at the VU and the UvA. In her studies, she can let go of sports for a while. “I already have enough sports in my life,” she jokes. Training every day from six until eight in the morning, and in the evening at the same time another two hours of hard work at swimming club De Dolfijn in Amsterdam. “Then you learn to plan ahead.”
 
Only this year did she manage to be fast enough in the pool to qualify for the Universiade. So the fact that the tournament could not take place twice because of corona was not inconvenient for her. With a laugh, she says, “For me, it was better that it was postponed.”
 
The Universiade lasts from July 28 to August 8 and takes place in Chengdu, China. Both the long jump (athletics) and swimming begin on August 1. Both sports end on August 6 and 7, respectively. You can see the full program here.