The five finals of the penultimate day of the Pan American Elite Track Cycling Championship held in San Juan, Argentina, left four nations at the top of the podium and only Canada was able to repeat on more occasions to stay on top by countries, now with eight gold, four silver and two bronze.
The northern delegation prevailed in the individual pursuit for ladies and the omnium for men. In the first of these modalities, there was a final between Canadians, where Ariane Bonhomme (3:32.180) surpassed her partner Fiona Majendie (3:34.952) and thus achieved her second gold in the contest, since she had participated in the quartet winner of the collective pursuit. The bronze corresponded to the Colombian Andrea Alzate, who defeated the American Matsick Bethany in her heat.
As for the most demanding test of all those called by track cycling, the omnium, the Canadian Dylan Bibic asserted his world class and won with 169 units and first place in three of the four specialties that he contemplates. He was followed on the podium by Colombian Fernando Gaviria with 153 points, while Akil Campbell from Trinidad finished with bronze and 113 cards.
Precisely from Trinidad and Tobago another crown arrived on this day, through the well-known Paul Nicholas, who defeated Colombian Kevin Quintero in two heats in the final to lift the scepter in pure speed. In the two disputed series he went below 10 seconds. He stopped the clocks at 9 and a fraction and his performance peaked at 71 kilometers per hour.
This was the second title in the fight for Nicholas from Trinidad, since he had previously been keirin champion. In the third box of the individual speed was the Surinamese En Fa Tjon, superior to the Argentine Omar Vilar Lucas.
As a luxury due to her wide international track record and without any big surprises, the Colombian Martha Bayona, World Cup medalist, dominated the 500 meter time trial with 33.419 seconds, to relegate the silver and bronze medals to two experienced men such as the American Marquardt Mandy (33,797) and the Mexican Jessica Salazar (33,972), respectively.
Finally, in the women’s points race, the Mexican Yareli Acevedo won four of the ten sprints and added 32 points, unattainable by the Colombian Elizabet Castaño (25) and the Chilean Paula Villalón (19). The latter contributed the first medal for her country and raised to eight the nations that have managed to get on the podium at the Vicente Alejo Chancay velodrome.
This Sunday the Pan American track will end in San Juan and the attention is focused on the always attractive Madison for men and women. But it will not be everything, since from 9 am onwards (until it ends at approx. 1:30 pm) there will be men’s elimination finals and the kilometer (1000 meters), added to the ladies’ keirin.
Pan American Elite Track Cycling medal table
| Países | O | P | B |
| CAN | 8 | 4 | 2 |
| MEX | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| COL | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| TTO | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| USA | 1 | 7 | |
| SUR | 1 | 1 | |
| BRA | 1 | ||
| CHI | 1 |
All results: https://panam2023.veloresults.com/