The cyclist Marlies Mejías is preparing to fulfill her main goal: to represent Cuba in the most important commitments in 2023. “This month I will do a camp in Tucson, Arizona, with the Twenty24 team, which renewed my contract for the second year,” she wrote from Roanoke, Virginia, in the United States, where his club is based.
Due to the outstanding results obtained in 2022, the club considered the West Indian Olympian as co-captain. Let’s remember that this squad holds the UCI Women’s Team category, the highest in road cycling worldwide.
The native of Güira de Melena, although born in Santiago de Cuba, debuted in international clubs in 2017 with the Weber Shimano Ladies Power, with which she won the tours of Uruguay and San Juan (Argentina), and the Wilmington Grand Prix of Delaware race , in its debut on American roads.
Last year, with Twenty24 -a number in reference to the Olympic Games- the 30-year-old rider confirmed her talent and combativeness in several races through northern territories, in which she won podiums.
The Cuban also participated in mountain bike (MTB) competitions, taking advantage of her physical strength and her skills that have allowed her to stand out from a young age in top-ranking track and road events.
At the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games, she placed eighth and seventh, respectively, in the omnium. She also keeps in her chest a variety of medals in continental championships in that specialty and on the roads.
Marlies reigned in cycling at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz 2014, winning four titles on the track and one on the road; and also in those of Barranquilla 2018, with a golden triplet in the individual and team pursuit, and the scratch.
At the 2015 Toronto Pan American Games, she secured silver in the team sprint with Lisandra Guerra, and bronze in the omnium.
After becoming a mother, she reappeared in 2021 with a victory in the individual time trial of the Santo Domingo Pan-American Championship; and in the 2022 edition, although she placed twelfth in that test in Argentina, she secured a spot for the 2023 San Salvador Central Caribbean Games.
“I want to run all the important competitions for Cuba,” said Marlies, who takes advantage of every training session and race. In truth, she will not be surprised if she renews those triumphant days. She dreams of more podiums in 2023.
Source: By: Lisset Isabel Ricardo, www.jit.cu