Everything is ready in Vina del mar,
the “tourists capital” of Chile, for the Pan American Games. Triathlon is on
the schedule with the individual events being staged on Thursday, 2 November,
and the fast and furious Mixed Relay taking place on Saturday, 4 November.
Luisa Baptista (BRA) and Crisanto Grajales (MEX) return to defend their Pan
American titles but the start lists are packed with talent, with athletes also
chasing valuable points on the Olympic Ranking.
The 33 women and 36 men lining up
will face an Standard distance race with a 1500m swim in one lap in the chilly
waters of the Pacific Ocean (wetsuit is expected to be mandatory), followed by
a rather flat and technical bike course (40km in six laps) and a final 10km run
along the Playa de El Sol. The Elite Women will start at 10am local time on
Thursday, November 2, followed by the Elite Men at 13h. On Saturday, 11 teams
will take the stage for the much awaited Mixed Relay event, starting at 10am.
Women’s Preview
Wearing the one on the day will be
Mexican rising star Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal. She is making her debut at the
Major Games circuit in Chile after a breakthrough season that saw her on a
podium of a World Triathlon Championship Series for the first time on her
career, giving Mexico the first ever podium on the WTCS. Rosa had a fantastic
start of the season but seems to be back on a form peak, after her bronze medal
at the Brasilia World Cup only two weeks ago.
Mexico is lining up a strong team in
Vina del Mar, including Lizeth Rueda Santos -who has had a few top 10 finishes
in World Cups this season – and Anahi Alvarez Corral, still a U23 athlete but
one of the fastest runners on the circuit.
If the Mexican athletes are known for
their fast runs, the Brazilians are considered amongst the best swimmers of the
world. Vittoria Lopes has a proving record of leaving the water in first place,
and surely will be hard to beat in Vina del Mar. Along with Djenyfer Arnold and
previous Pan American champion Luisa Baptista, they will try to break the race
from the start.
Gina Sereno and Erika Ackerlund will
be the USA representatives. Both of them great swimmers and solid runners, they
will be indeed amongst the ones to watch and trying to have an impact on the
race. Emy Legault (CAN) is also looking forward a solid performance that will
consolidate her position on the Olympic rankings.
Maria Carolina Velasquez Soto (COL)
is well used to race in South America, and already has proven that she can be
fighting for top positions, after winning this year four Americas Triathlon
Cups and the Central America & Caribbean Games.
Member of the World Triathlon Team,
the young Colombian will be joined in Vina del Mar by another member of the
World Triathlon Team, Erika Hawley (BER).
A total of 33 women representing 16 countries
will line up this Thursday for the Standard distance race, facing a 1500m swim
in one lap on the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean, followed by six laps to
cover 40km on a flat and technical bike course and finish with a 10km run along
the El Sol beach.
Check here the full start list
Men’s Preview
It will be Brazil’s Miguel Hidalgo,
still a U23 athlete, wearing the number one and the athlete to beat in the Pan
American Games. Coming to Chile right after striking gold at the Brasilia World
Cup two weeks ago, and after a few top 10 finishes on the World Triathlon
Championship Series circuit including the Pontevedra Finals, Hidalgo has proven
to be really hard to beat, especially if it all comes to a run race.
But if this is the case, another
Brazilian will be worth keeping an eye on: Manoel Messias. His run splits in
Montreal WTCS and Abu Dhabi WTCS were worth a medal at both events. The battle
with these two and the top ranked USA, Matthew MacElroy, will be epic if it all
comes to the final kilometers on their running shoes, the three of them used to
fast running splits.
But the line up in Vina del Mar also
includes some really fast swimmers, like Chase McQueen (USA), Broke Hoel (CAN)
and Martin Sobey (CAN), who will try to make an impact on the race from early
on. Experienced riders like Seth Rider (USA), Rodrigo Gonzalez (MEX) or
Crisanto Grajales (MEX) -winner at the pan American Games in the last two
editions- will also be ones to follow during the race.
The World Triathlon Team will well
represented at the Pan American Games, with Chile’s Diego Moya leading the
squad, looking forward to repeat in the Games the performance that gave him a
silver medal at the Vina del mar World Cup last year.
Also members of the Team are Alvaro
Campos Solano (CRC), Gabriel Terán Carvajal (ECU), Ramón Armando Matute (ECU)
and Tyler Smith (BER).
Check the full start list here
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