Wow! Just Wow! That final race to end five days of the Pan American Track Championships was fantastic. Not that the races that came before it were shabby affairs mind you - the keirin races for both men and women, kilo time trail, and Womens' Madison finals all had their drama, but it was the last race, the Men's Madison that eclipsed them all.
If you missed it, if you were unaware, the Pan American Track Cycling Championships took place at the Velo Sports Center over five days beginning last Wednesday. It was a big deal, these international competitions don't come along all that often, and a lot of the athletes competing over the five days are honing their game ahead of the Paris Olympics just a couple months away now.
As usual, this was one of those last minute decisions, one that I knew would force me to give up a day of riding and, again as usual, it was worth the loss of a few miles.
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| 2024 Pan American Track Cycling Championships: Valente & Jastrab |
The Women's Madison final was burning around the track when I arrived, so I had already missed a few of the earliest races, but whatever disappointment I had dissipated soon enough. Lily Plante and Ngaire Barraclough of Canada may have swept in to take the final laps' ten points, one last attempt to deny the Colombians, Juliana Londono David and Lina Marcela Hernandez Gomez the silver medal, but that was not enough, and the Canadian duo had to settle for bronze. As for the Gold, well, that was firmly in the grasp of Megan Jastrab and Jennifer Valente almost from the beginning; the American pair crushed their competition, finishing the race with fifty-one points, to Colombia's thirty-two and Canada's twenty-nine. Mexico (Maria Antonieta Gaxiola Gonzalez and Lizbeth Yarely Salazar Vazquez) finished 4th, Wellyda Regisleyne Dos Santos Rodrigues and Alice Tamirys Leite de Mela of Brazil were 5th, and the pair from Chile, Scarlet Cortes Ugarte and Victoria Martinez Retamal, took 6th.
With two heats, the Women's Keirin 1/2 Final came up next with the top three finishers from each heat advancing to the finals for 1st to 6th, with the bottom three from each heat competing in the consolation for 7th through 12th. Maria Tereza Muller (Brazil), Kelsey Mitchell (Canada), Martha Bayone Pineda (Colombia), Yulia Paola Verdugo Osuna (Mexico), Kayla Hankins (USA), and Dahlia Palmer (Jamaica) raced the first heat. With an average speed of 63.627 kph over the 200 km (6 laps) Mitchell took the win in the first head, followed by Bayona Pineda 2nd, and Verdugo Osuna 3rd. Hankins finish 4th, Palmer 5th, and Muller 6th.
Natalia Andrea Vera (Argentina), Lauriane Genest (Canada), Paula Molina Rodriguez (Chile) Stefany Lorena Cuadrado Florez (Colombia), Mandy Marquardt (USA), and Luz Daniela Gaxiola Gonzalez (Mexico) challenged in the second heat. The second heat was won by Mexico's Gaxiola Gonzalez in an average speed of 62.321 kph; Genest finished 2nd, and Marquardt 3rd. Marquardt was awarded 3rd after Cuadrado Florez was first warned and then relegated for dangerous riding, the second offense causing Marquardt to crash had to the boards. Vera finished 4th, and Molina Rodriguez 5th.
The six rider finial for 7th to 12 in the women's keirin was won by Vera, ahead of Muller, Molina Rodriguez, Cuadrado Florez, Hankins and Palmer. The race for 1st through 6th was all Canada, as they took the top two spots, with Genest 1st, and Mitchell 2nd. Bayone Pineda finished 3rd, Verdugo Osuna 4th, Marquardt 5th, and Gaxiola Gonzalez 6th. Mandy was given an appreciative round of applause for honoring her place in the final and lining up, though heavily bandaged on her shoulder and side.
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| 2024 Pan American Track Cycling Championships: De Silva, Men's Kilo TT final |
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| 2024 Pan American Track Cycling Championships: Men's Kilo TT final, Argentina |
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| 2024 Pan American Track Cycling Championships: Domonoske |
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| 2024 Pan American Track Cycling Championships: Domonoske |
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| 2024 Pan American Track Cycling Championships: Ortega Fontalvo |
Next up came the Mens Kilo Time Trial Final. Riding 1000 meter (4 laps). Most people awaited the final three riders, expecting the victory would go to one of them. Of those three, David Domonoske (USA) left the gate first. His 250 meter time was the slowest of the four competitors who went before him, but then he picked it up, enough to shoot into 1st place. There were two Colombian riders still to come along though, and by the end of their runs, Domonoske, would have to settle for the bronze of 3rd place. Santiago Ramirez Morales would win 1st, and his countryman, Cristian David Ortega Fontalvo 2nd. Behind Domonoske came Alejo Betique (Argentina) in 4th, Joao Vitor Da Silva (Brazil) 5th, Jamie Alvord III (USA) 6th, and Joaquin Fuenzalida Galaz 7th.
The finish of the TT left just the mens Madison final, "just" being a huge understatement, as it was 200 laps (50 km) of pure GO! For a while it looked as though this race was going to be between Mexico (Fernando Gabriel Nava Romo and Edibaldo Madonado Rayas) and the United States (Grant Koontz and Peter Moore), as they were gobbling up most of the points. The defending champions, the Canadian pair of Chris Ernst and Ethan Powell, just did not seem to have quite the necessary spark or energy, indeed, one of the pair commented to a nearby spectator, (while awaiting the start) that he was tired. After the next two-hundred laps that "tired" must surely have turned to "exhausted."
Anyway, with about eighty-five laps still to go, the Colombian pair of Juan Esteban Arango Carvajal and Jordan Arley Parra Arias made a massive move away from the bunch; there was no falter in their turning circles, and their effort paid big time, allowing them to lap the field and grab an extra twenty points, vaulting them ahead of the United States, and challenging Mexico. One nearly catastrophic moment came with about sixty laps to go when Maldonado and Ernst had a tangle - sharp words were exchanged, but nothing more serious and no lasting repercussions.
The race was getting down to the wire, with the battle for Gold looking like it would be between Mexico and Colombia when, all of a sudden Team USA, just like Colombia before them, made their own gigantic move away from the remaining bunch with about thirty-five laps remaining. After gaining about a half lap lead, the guys in stars and stripes looked to have run out of steam. Somehow, from somewhere they found extra energy, and began to slowly close on the back of the bunch. Ten laps after bolting away, and to a huge standing ovation, the US pair lapped the field, picking up twenty points and moving in to 1st place. I imagine they were riding on a high by then, and there was no let up in their effort over the final laps. The two again moved off the front, determined to collect the final five points on offer and cross the line first on the final lap. Both of those accomplished, the Gold was theirs. Team USA ended with 79 points, to Mexicos 59, Colombia finished with 52 points for 3rd, Canada held onto 4th with 34 poinis. Behind the top four came Argentina in 5th (Marcos Omar Mendez and Ruben Gabriel Ramos) with 32 points, and Chile (Cristian Arriagada Pizarro and Matias Arriagada Pizarro), who suffered the lone crash in the race, finished 6th. Not finishing were Trinidad & Tobago (Akil Campbell and Tariq Woods), Brazil (Ricardo Pereira Dalamaria and Samuel Hauane Reikdal Stachera), Peru (Luis Gonzalo Josue Olivos Barrera and Hugo Nestor Emiliano Ruiz Calle), and Guatemala (Julio Padilla Miranda and Eduardo Melvin Torres Yuman).
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