The Royal Spanish Athletics Federation Leverages IBM's Artificial Intelligence Platform to Optimize Sports Performance

• Spanish Olympic hopefuls, Diego García and Aldara Meilán, are some of the athletes who are benefitting from the platform powered by IBM watsonx.data
• The technology analyzes information captured by sensors and applications for coaches to make personalized and highly informed decisions about their athletes

MADRID, Nov. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Royal Spanish Athletics Federation is advancing its digitalization process with the creation of a centralized data infrastructure developed together with IBM (NYSE: IBM) and its technological partner Habber Tec, the IA-THLETICS platform.

The new system, based on IBM watsonx.data technology, allows the consolidation and management of large volumes of information generated by professional athletes — from training sensors and medical tests to biomechanical, physiological, and health data — in a reliable, accessible, and secure environment.

With watsonx, the Federation has a single, controlled source of data that facilitates more precise and personalized decision making for coaches and technical teams, providing specific recommendations to athletes to improve performance in high-level competitions and prevent injuries. The tool was presented today in Madrid with the participation of racewalker athletes Diego García and Aldara Meilán, who demonstrated how the technology collects and processes data from their training sessions. Both are preparing for the next Olympic games and are considered some of Spain's most prominent Olympic hopefuls.

"This project marks a turning point in the way we understand training and performance management. Thanks to IBM technology and the development of Habber Tec, we have been able to analyze athletes' data in much greater depth, which will allow us to make more informed decisions and personalize each athlete's training like never before," said Raúl Chapado, president of the Royal Spanish Athletics Association.

Quality Data for Sport 

The Royal Spanish Athletics Federation is applying these improvements, with the technological foundation developed on the platform, in projects that study athletes' strides, jumps, and running technique using motion sensors and high-speed cameras, allowing coaches to identify technical aspects that need improvement. By 2028, around 1,000 coaches will be using the technology to train professional athletes in Spain.

In addition, the platform is connected to the applications used by coaches and technical teams, who immediately receive personalized analysis and data-driven recommendations, reinforcing the role of technology as an ally in sports preparation and decision making. 

In a race walking project, 7.5 million data points were collected during two months of testing with a small group of athletes. When other disciplines such as discus throw, hurdles and sprints are added and more data is generated, the Federation will be ready to develop new use cases for artificial intelligence and big data.

"The challenge isn't having more data but understanding it. The Federation can reliably interpret data and use it to improve athlete performance. It is not about replacing the coach's intuition or the athlete's feedback, but rather about giving them the knowledge and evidence-based information they can rely on," said Jacobo Garnacho, Business Director of Artificial Intelligence and Data for Spain, Portugal, Greece and Israel.  

Ricardo Arguello, director of Habber Tec Spain, emphasized the robust data layer capable of storing, processing, and providing data from various sources: "We allow coaches to access detailed information about their athletes for talent and competition management at the federation level. This platform allows the Royal Spanish Sports Federation to establish the basis for consistent scaling in cases of artificial intelligence and massive data analysis."

About IBM 
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Paola Ortega Hernandez
paola.ortega@ibm.com

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