The victory of the American Peter Moore in the omnium and of the Colombian Stefany Cuadrado in the women’s kilometer time trial were the highlights of the fourth day of the Pan American Track Championships, which concludes this Sunday in Asuncion, Paraguay.
In addition to them, the winners in this penultimate day were also the Trinidadian Nicholas Paul, in sprint, and Victoria Teniel Campbell, in the scoring; and the American Emily Ehrlich in the pursuit, with which the northern nation reached six gold medals and a total of ten medals.
Uruguay’s Diego Jamen took the first omnium event, the scratch, which was an unexpected start in the omnium, ahead of Moore and Clever Martinez. The American and the Venezuelan put things in place by winning both laps in the tempo race, with Peru’s Hugo Ruiz in third place, both repeating their positions in the elimination, ahead of Trinidad and Tobago’s Akil Campbell.
Thus, Moore arrived at the last race with an eight-point lead over Martinez and both had a nice duel, winning two laps each, but the American would be far superior in the sprints to end up winning comfortably, 186 to 158. Where there was a surprise was in third place as Ruiz barely scored and dropped to seventh place, while Argentina’s Ruben Gabriel Ramos took advantage of two laps won to climb to third place, with 136.
Stefany Cuadrado was crowned as the first Pan American champion of the kilometer, with a time of 1:07.843, achieving her first absolute title. American Hayley Yoslov, with 1:08.518, and Colombian Juliana Gaviria, with 1:09.597, won the other two metals: silver and bronze, respectively.
The second day of the sprint event started with surprises in the quarterfinals, as Kevin Quintero and James Hedgcock qualified for the semifinals by defeating Nick Wammes and Nijsane Phillip, third and fourth times the day before in the 200.
The Colombian continued with his streak, defeating his compatriot Cristian David Ortega in the two semifinal clashes, although in the final he was beaten by Nicholas Paul, who thus took revenge for the keirin, with which the Trinidadian added his second gold after the one achieved in the team sprint. Ortega, for his part, completed the podium, winning without a tiebreaker over Hedgcock.
The women’s pursuit recorded two very equal times of Ehrlich and Ariane Bonhome, separated by one tenth, a result that was repeated in the final, with a difference of seven tenths (4:40.473 to 4:41.147), in a confrontation in which the Canadian took the lead until the last kilometer.
The qualifying times of the runners who would later fight for bronze, Teniel and Skyler Goudswaard, were also very close, although in this case the Canadian finished in the fast lane, doubling her rival in the third kilometer.
It is possible that Teniel was feeling the effects of her previous effort in the scoring, where a solo lap won by her was enough to take the gold, with 41 points. The last sprint won by Elizabeth Castaño allowed the Colombian to get on the podium, with 25, and leave Lily Plante out, although it was not enough to beat Mexico’s Sofia Arreola, second with 28.
The Pan American Games ends this Sunday with the last five races: time trial and elimination for men, keirin for women and madison for both sexes.
Source: www.ciclo21.com