Venezuelan junior cycling re-emerged in Lima

Published at: 23/07/2025 04:30 PM

Venezuelan cycling ended its participation in the Pan American Junior Track Championship in Peru, on July 22, with good feelings after climbing to the podium seven times with a silver medal and six bronze medals that allowed it to be the sixth best country in the continental event.

The Venezuelan participation, made up mostly of champions of the past Orient 2024 National Youth Games, gave an exhibition of the great strength present in the developing generation of Venezuelan cycling.

“We returned to this Pan-American Youth Championship with one of the most numerous representations in the continent, both women's and men's, and where we accumulated seven medals that translate into a revival for Venezuelan cycling, especially in these categories, which are the basis and the beginning for high-performance athletes,” said José Machado, technical director of the specialty.

Future Champions

“This makes us dream of everything we can achieve for next year. Many of these young women are just in their first year in the category and by 2026 their performance expectations will be higher with a great projection of gold medals,” added Machado.

The medals won by the Venezuelan team at the close of the continental match were won by Michel Manzi, who added his third metal when he crossed the finish line with a time of 1:11,805 in the kilometer, behind his Colombian counterparts Valeria Hernández (1:09,875) and Mariana Pérez (1:11,393) first and second place respectively.

In the points test, Johanteh Vargas did the same and placed third with 29 positives, surpassed only by Colombian representative Luciana Osorio, leader of the sport (50) and accompanied in second position by Laura Zenovelo, Brazil (36).

For their part, in the Madison event, the Venezuelan duo formed by Olviangel Castillo and Yeniret Roa totaled 27 points, which brought them to third place on the podium won by the Colombian pair composed of Luciana Osori o and Yalecza Marín (32), accompanied in second place by their Chilean counterparts Ninoska Rojas and Antonia Osorio (30).

Bronze in men's

Rafael Campos won bronze metal, the only one for the Creole men's category, after having a great performance in the four cumulative tests in which he scored 40; 26 and 34 and increased in the points race with 15 units, totaling 155 in the final classification of the sport.

The greatest exponent was the Argentinian Bautista Nichea (158) followed by Raimundo Carvajal with the same number of points as the Venezuelan (155).

In the final medal table of the Peruvian competition, the Venezuelan delegation won seven medals, one silver medal and six bronze medals; Colombia won with 26 metals (13-9-4), followed by Chile (4-7-3), Mexico (3-1-4), Argentina (1-2-3) and Trinidad and Tobago (1-0-1).

“We are very grateful to the Minister of Popular Power for Sports, Franklin Cardillo, and to the national government for their support for the participation of the Venezuelan delegation in the Pan-American Championship in which we experienced days of great emotion and adrenaline with the effort that each of our athletes put into every ride to win the silver medal and the six bronze medals that take a step forward in the history of Venezuelan cycling,” said the president of the Venezuelan Cycling Federation, Anaís Muñoz.

This exclusive event of the discipline served as a prelude to the continent's highest event for the junior category, the Junior Pan American Games in Asunción, which will start on August 9-23 in the capital of Paraguay.

MINDEPORTE/Mazo News Team