The Mexican sprinter Luz Daniela Gaxiola won the pure sprint and broke the American dominance in the third date of the Pan American Cycling Championship, which is being held in the velodrome of the VELO Sports Center, in the city of Los Angeles, United States, until next Sunday.
Gaxiola’s title is even more relevant because she beat in both sprints the Olympic title holder of the specialty, Canada’s Kelsey Mitchell, while she propped up her delegation as the second in the medal table of the event with three gold medals, only surpassed by the local representation that reached seven crowns this Friday. The bronze in this specialty went to the renowned Colombian Martha Bayona, who beat Canada’s Lauriane Genest in three heats.
The other titles of the day went to American riders. Jennifer Valente continued adding victories and reached her third gold medal in the competition, by winning the difficult omnium event with a final accumulated 175 points and a perfect performance by winning the four modalities included in it. Behind her were Colombia’s Lina Marcela Hernández (138) and Mexico’s Yareli Acevedo (121).
In the individual pursuit, everything was disputed between Americans and Canadians, although the first place on the podium went to the local Anders Johnson, who beat Chris Ernst. In the battle for bronze, the roles were reversed and the northern visitor Daniel Fraser-Maraun dominated the home rider, Viggo Moore.
The final medal game on Friday was won by American Peter Moore in the points race, scoring 50 points. Second place was defined by Colombian Brayan Gomez’s placement in the final sprint (2nd) as he finished with 33 points to Argentina’s Franco Buchanan.
After the first three dates of the Pan American Track and when the closing of the event is approaching, the United States easily dominates the medal table with (7-0-2), followed by Mexico (3-0-3), Colombia (1-5-1), Trinidad and Tobago (1-0-2), Canada (0-6-2), Chile (0-1-0), and Barbados and Argentina (0-0-1).
On Saturday, the men’s sprint and omnium champions will be decided, as well as the 500-meter time trial and the women’s points race. The finals of the keirin (f), the madison (f and m), the elimination race (m) and the kilometers against the clock (m) will be held on Sunday.