Francisco Cubelos was born in Talavera de la Reina (Castilla La Mancha) on the 8th of October of 1992. His background is of El Bierzo on his father’s side and from Talavera on his mother’s side. He comes from a humble family and is the youngest of a saga of champion canoeists.

His brothers, Hector and Rodrigo, like him, have been World Champions in the world of canoeing.

His uncle, José Ángel, president of the Club Talavera Talak (canoeing club) and of the Canoeing Federation of Castilla-La Mancha, was who introduced them to this sport which has given the family so many joys.

Since very young he practiced several sports, and when he was about to turn 8 years old he was given a canoe paddle by Luis Brasero, his lifelong coach with whom he still trains with. He began to outstand in trials at local and regional levels, and at barely 12 he won his first Cup of Spain, in under 14 category.
Little after, in 2007, at 14, he obtained his first international medal in the category of K2 with his brother Rodrigo. They achieved this at the World Championship Marathon in Györ (Hungary), competing in Junior category, but both belonging actually to category under 16. Amazingly even though they were the youngest competing they were able to win the Bronze world medal.

It was a great omen for the future. One year later, the youngest of the saga was accepted in the Center for High Performance in Madrid, residing at the Residence Joaquín Blume, where he is living at present. Since then he works under the instruction of Manuel Fernández Valladares and forms part of the National Junior Team.
His beginnings here have made of the following years some of the best in his sports career, being proclaimed World Champion and European Champion in K1- 1000m; and vice champion and Bronze in K1 – 500m.
We had to wait until 2012 to be able to celebrate his beginnings in the Men´s Category at an international level. A Bronze medal in the European Championship and his Olympic classification has made him form part of the best Kayak competitors of the World. Later on, in the Olympic Games of London 2012 he achieved an Olympic diploma, finishing seventh in the Final of the K1- 1000m., making him the youngest Spanish rower in history to participate in an Olympic Final. His wide track record, in spite of his young age, has made him one of the rowers with most international recognition and is considered one of the best sports competitors in his home town, being the first to compete in the Olympic Games from Talavera de la Reina. Francisco, together with his two brothers and other talaveran rowers, have made canoeing and kayaking one the most practiced sports in the city of the ceramic.

Nevertheless, it hasn´t been an easy path for this young rower, who has had to overcome difficult situations and has always learnt something from these hard moments, but he has been lucky enough to count with the unconditional support of everyone giving him always strength to go on. Very committed to his city, his river and his club, he has made Talavera a well known city around the world despite the poor news coverage that sports like canoeing and kayaking receive. Nowadays he continues to train with more strength than ever in order to achieve his dream: being Olympic Gold.