Venezuelan Paola Pérez repeated gold in open water at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo

Published at: 25/07/2026 04:15 PM

Paola Pérez won the gold medal in the 10 kilometers of open water at the Central American and Caribbean Games (JCAC) in Santo Domingo, which represented Venezuela's second win of the day.

The athlete from Tachirense dominated the course at San Souci beach and beat Mexico's Yuritzi Salgado in a tight closing, stopping the stopwatch at 2:18:25.0, followed by Salgado with 2:18:44.0 and Dalia Moreno with 2:18:48.0, while Daniela Suárez came fifth with 2:21:12.0, according to a press release from the Ministry of Sports.

The result brought the number of medals won by Pérez in his career in the CAC Games to six, since his debut with silver in 10 km and bronze for teams in Veracruz 2014, in addition to the medals won in San Salvador 2023 in individual, mixed and pool events.

In the men's category, Diego Vera finished fourth in the 10 kilometers and could not repeat the podium achieved in previous editions, recording 2:05:14.0 behind Mexico's Paulo Strehlke, Costa Rican Jeison Rojas and also Mexican Diego Obele, while Ronaldo Zambrano finished fifth with 2:05:19.0.

Mazo News Team