A look back at the track portion of the Inline Pan Am Championships

The best skaters in North, South and Central America were in Monterrey, Mexico for the Pan American Championships last weekend.

By Jackob Savard
Photo: Thomas Wendt (@freddyrace)

In this competition, skaters were trying to qualify spots for their country in view of next year’s Pan American games to be held in Lima, Peru. Skaters from Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, the United States and many more were competing. Canadian Marco Frusteri and Maxime St-Jules who took part in this year’s World Championships were also present at these championships.

Chilean skaters stood out in the men’s sprint distances

Chile’s skaters Emanuelle Silva and Ricardo verdugo were respectively crowned Pan American champion in the 200m TT and the 500m. Adding to his victory in the 500m, Verdugo finished third in the 200m. Other medalists in the sprint distances were Sebastian Guzman, Andres Munoz and Justin Stelly.

Escobar two times medalist in the ladies’ short distances

Colombia’s Yesenia Escobar got two individual silver medals in the track races finishing second in both the 200m and the 500m. Impressive Guatemala’s skater Dalia Soberanis won the 200m TT while Kerstinck Sarmiento from Colombia won the 500m.

Jimenez and Arnedo 1000m champions
Colombian Andres Mauricio Jimenez and Elizabeth Arnedo won the 1000m distance. In the men’s competition, Sebastian Guzman and Santiago Roumec completed the podium while in the ladies' 1000m it was Romina Perez and Kerstinck Sarmiento.

Zapata and Bolanos long distances champions

Colombian Daniel Zapata took the win in the points / elimination race and also took the bronze medal in the elimination race. Ecuador’s Jorge Bolanos won the elimination race and finished second in the points / elimination race. Colombian Carlos Franco and Argentina’s Santiago Roumec both collected a medal.

Colombia from start to finish in the ladies’ long distances.

In the ladies’ longer distances, both podium were all Colombian. Johana Viveros won the points / elimination race in front of her teammates Luz Karime Garzon and Daniela Mendoza. In the elimination race, it was Garzon’s time to be crowned Pan American champion. She was followed by Youth olympic games champion Gabriela Rueda Rueda and Viveros.

Colombia won both relays

Without any surprise, Colombia won both the men’s and the women’s relay. On the men’s side, Mexico took second place and Argentina took third. Chile finished second in the ladies' relay while Mexico took the bronze. It was some pretty surprising results by the Mexicans considering they didn’t manage to access the individual podiums of these track championships.

We will publish an article about the road competition of these Pan American championships in the next few days.

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