COLOMBIA’S STREAK WAS ENDED BY ECUADOR AND TAIPEI

The second day of the Ibagué Tolima-2021 speed skating world championships was vibrant and emotional, especially for those who filled the stands of the Municipal Sports Park. The schedule gave us the 500m + D finals for the junior category, women, and men, as well as the 1,000m women’s and men’s sr. finals that drew applause, thanks to the disputed races.

The first finals were those in the long-distance trials. In the women’s junior category, María Camila Vargas from Bogotá gave Colombia the ninth gold by winning the 10,000-meter junior elimination, leaving her teammate Mariana Chaparro with the silver and the Ecuadorian Fernanda Moncada with the bronze medal. 

In the men’s category, the streak of the local squad was broken, since the Ecuadorian Nicolás García knew how to get between the two local runners, Juan Jacobo Mantilla and Sebastián Flórez, causing friction and coming out of the southern curve. The fall of the two runners left Mantilla alone on arrival, but the judges acted and determined that he had committed a fault, leaving García as the winner, Flórez as second, and Rocher Matthis (France) as third.

The third final of the day was for the Colombian and multiple world champion, Fabriana Arias, who got her 16th world title and Colombia’s tenth in this speed world championships in Ibagué, Tolima, by winning the Elimination, escorted by her partner team, Luz Karime Garzón, silver, and bronze for Yang Ho-Chen, from Chinese Taipei.

The experienced Colombian runner Daniel Zapata got the gold medal and reached his second world title by winning the 10,000-meter points + elimination senior for men in an intense race from start to finish and with a high pace of competition. Silver went to Jason Suttels, from Belgium, and bronze to Frenchman Ferrie Martin.

At speed, the runner Kollin Castro won the 500 meters + women’s junior distance and got her second gold medal of this skating world championships. Her teammate Ana Sofía Ruiz won the silver medal, while Luisa María González Spain took the bronze.

Salomón Carballo, a sprinter, led Colombia to its thirteenth gold medal at the World Cups in Ibagué 2021.Carballo won the 500 meters + junior distance, after a good collective work alongside Elimelec Ospino, who got the silver medal, while Andrés Cremaschi, from Italy, got the bronze.

One of the most spectacular finish of these world championships represented gold for the Chinese Taipei athlete Yang Ho Chen, who surprised Colombian María Fernanda Timms on the finish line and left her with the silver medal in the 1,000 meters, senior ladies. Marie Dupuy, from France, won the bronze.

On the second day, Colombia’s skaters were led by Pedro Armando Causil, who won gold in the 1,000 meter senior, leaving Chao Tsu Cheng of Chinese Taipei with the silver medal and French Elton de Souza in third place with the bronze medal.

In the medal table of the championships, after two days and 16 trials, it is Colombia, the host, with 14-11-1, for a total of 26 medals. Ecuador follows with 1 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronzes, and the Chinese Taipei delegation is third with 1 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze.