Catalina Vidaurre in the elite category and Florencia Monsalvez in the under-23 category secured the final two titles for Chile at the Pan American Mountain Bike Championships, winning the Olympic Cross Country events held at the AguaVista circuit in Paraguay. Mexico and Brazil also had champions in the men’s events.
Vidaurre dominated ahead of Brazilians Raiza Goulao and Karen Fernandes, bringing her total to three medals at this edition of the Pan American Championships. She had previously reached the podium in every event she entered (XCR/XCC). She will now wear her National and Pan American XCO Champion jersey in the World Cups on the MTB world circuit and in all other races.
The young Monsalvez also delivered a strong performance, facing a tougher challenge to secure the gold medal after a close race against Brazilian Gabriela Pereira, who held firm until the final lap. Mexican Joy Méndez took the bronze, in a performance that exceeded the experts’ expectations.
In the men’s competition, Mexican Gerardo Ulloa repeated his XCC victory, this time with an even more decisive advantage over Brazilians Ulan Bastos and Alex Junior, who won gold and bronze, respectively. It was undoubtedly a great performance by the Mexican, who contributed both of his country’s gold medals in the tournament, placing them fourth in the medal standings.
Finally, in the men’s under-23 category, Brazilian Vinicius Howe dominated, followed by Argentinians Joaquín Reyes and Juan Ignacio Pereyra. This gold medal was Brazil’s ninth, securing their lead at the Pan American Games, with an additional 10 silver and 8 bronze medals for a grand total of 27.
Chile finished second in the overall standings (5-4-2), while Colombia finished third (4-3-2) after four days of competition. Other nations that reached the podium, but were unable to taste gold, were Argentina (0-2-4), Ecuador (0-1-0), Paraguay (0-0-1) as well as Costa Rica.