Mexico's Cycling Women Shine Despite Olympic Near-Miss
Mexico's women's speed cycling team made history at Paris 2024, clinching fifth place and breaking national records. Their performance marks a turning point for Mexican cycling.
Track cycling kicked off at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The national women's speed team made up of Yuli Paola Verdugo Osuna, Jessica Salazar Valles and Luz Daniela Gaxiola González achieved fifth place for Mexico in this team event in a summer competition for the first time in history.
The national sprinters recorded a time of 46.251 seconds in the final round to beat the Chinese team made up of Yufang Guo, Shanju Bao and Liying Yuan, champions in Tokyo 2020, who finished with 46.572 seconds.
In the first round, the Mexicans set their best time of the competition with 46.198 seconds, which is the best Pan American and national time so far, against the German team that achieved a time of 45.377 seconds, made up of Pauline Grabosch, Emma Hinze and Lea Friedrich, who qualified for the bronze medal and later won it against the Netherlands.
At the start of the events, the women's speed team finished in sixth place out of eight teams that participated with a time of 46.587 seconds.
Mexican sprinters finish in historic fifth place in track cycling at Paris 2024. The women's team made up of Yuli Verdugo, Jessica Salazar and Daniela Gaxiola achieve a Pan American and national record against Germany. Credit: CONADE
The gold medal went to the British Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane who set a world record with 45.186 seconds.
