Cuba’s Daymelín Pérez and Liannis Mesa won the gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the individual time trial under-23 category of the Caribbean Road Cycling Championships 2024; while the Puerto Rican Christopher Morales did the same in the same category, in the regional race that started this Saturday in Georgetown, Guyana.
Daymelín, from Holguin, fulfilled the expectations of those who considered her as the favorite and secured with her victory the only ticket in dispute in this event for the II Junior Pan American Games of Asuncion 2025, after setting a time of 25:36.27 minutes in the 18 kilometers of solo pedaling.
Meanwhile, her teammate from Matanzas, Liannis, 18 years old, surprised by claiming space on the podium with the third best time (27:27.34). Interposed between the two Cubans finished Kelianne Julus, from Martinique (26:52.10).
“Although the preparation for this championship was not the best, since we started in September with the beginning of the school year as usual, we are happy with this performance and we hope to get more tickets tomorrow on the road,” said coach Joel Leal, optimistic because three runners will qualify to Asunción 2025.
“Cuba has always excelled in competitions in this region, although now it was easier for us, as some athletes did not attend because at this date they have already finished their season and are on vacation. We were pleasantly surprised by the performance of Liannis, we had not conceived it, however, we had to see his delivery,” he said.
In the men’s race, Puerto Rico’s Morales clocked 43:16.59 to win the title and a place at the Asunción 2025 Games, ahead of Nicholas Narraway (43:18.52) of Bermuda and Mathis Risal (45:11.94) of Martinique.
This Sunday the second and last day will take place with the long-distance race, 85 kilometers for women and 155 for men, in pelotons made up of cyclists from the elite and under-23 categories.
Cyclists from Anguilla, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Bermuda, Jamaica, Barbados, St. Vincent, Suriname, Dominica, Belize, Guadeloupe, Cayman Islands, Martinique, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Curaçao, Puerto Rico and the hosts are participating in the Caribbean Road Cycling Championship.
Source: Lisset Isabel Ricardo Torres