Jessica Vall Montero (born 22 November 1988) is a Spanish competitive swimmer and breaststroke specialist. She has a degree in Biomedicine from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra and has worked at Barcelona's Biomedical Research Center. She swims for Club Natació Sant Andreu, where she has trained for over five years with her coach Jordi Jou, ex-elite swimmer also for C.N. Sant Andreu. Besides elite training, she is also working towards her master's degree in Bioethics from the Universidad Católica de Murcia (UCAM).
Biography
Jessica Vall debuted internationally in the 2013 Mediterranean Games, where she swam the 200-meter breaststroke, 100-meter breaststroke, and 4 × 100 m medley relay. She won one gold and two silver medals.[1]
In 2016, at the Spanish Spring Open held in Sabadell from 19 to 22 March, Vall hit the Olympic minimum in the 100-meter breaststroke during her first swim, thus making her Spain's first member of the swim team going to the 2016 Summer Olympics.[4] She also qualified for the 200-meter breaststroke later in that same meet. Her training partner at Club Natació Sant Andreu, teenage Africa Zamorano, was one of the surprises on the female Olympic squad,[5] mainly made up of veterans: Mireia Belmonte, Melani Costa and Duane da Rocha.
Vall has been honored as Barcelona's "Female Athlete of the Year" by Barcelona's City Council in 2015.[6]
