Aura Miquel and Carles Castillejo, the two athletes from the CAR Sant Cugat awarded scholarships by Johan Cruyff Institute

Aura Miquel and Carles Castillejo will make use of the two scholarships, awarded by Johan Cruyff Institute to athletes at the CAR Sant Cugat, to study the Master in Sport Management Blended Barcelona

In order to promote the academic training of high-performance athletes, Johan Cruyff Institute will again welcome two athletes from the CAR Sant Cugat high-performance center this academic year to study the Master in Sport Management Blended in Barcelona. The sailor Aura Miquel and the long-distance runner Carles Castillejo have been chosen to benefit from the two scholarships offered by Johan Cruyff Institute through its collaboration agreement with the CAR center in Sant Cugat.

Aura Miquel is an Olympic sailor in the 49er FX category and has been a professional athlete for more than a decade. She has obtained 10 podium positions in championships in Spain, seventh position in the European Championship and eighth position in the World Championship, in addition to being part of the Spanish team since 2010 and part of the pre-Olympic team since 2014. Aura has a degree in biotechnology, as well as a medium and a higher level diploma as a sport technician in sailing, and is currently a coach at the Catalan Sailing Federation.“Sport management is an area that I love and I want to learn more about. Doing the Master in Sport Management at Johan Cruyff Institute is a unique opportunity for my future that will add great value to my professional and personal career,” says Aura.

Carles Castillejo, 41, is a specialist in long-distance and cross-country races with more than 16 years of experience as a professional athlete. Carles is a former Spanish 5,000m champion and two-time 10,000m champion. He won a Spain half marathon in 2015 and was three times national marathon champion. He has participated in four Olympic Games and currently, in addition to preparing his return to competition after recovering from a serious injury, he is coaching elite middle and long-distance runners.

Carles Castillejo has a degree in psychopedagogy and hopes to apply all his experience, in national and world championships and Olympic Games, in his working life. “The Master in Sport Management Blended at Johan Cruyff Institute fits my needs, as it offers me the opportunity to learn how to stay linked to this sport from another perspective. I want to be able from the more business side of the sport, to help athletes have the best sports life possible,” he explains.