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Junior Ladies: It would be no surprise if the Korean Junior Ladies took out this event; however, even though they completed all their exchange-pushes within the allowed zone, they were disqualified from the race. An apology from the officials later for the error of calling them off the track was not going to put them on the podium in this event. Germany tried for most of the race to be in touch with the leaders, but there are stronger teams and it showed when the race was done. Chinese Taipei superiority was evident, they have many individual skaters of a very high caliber. Put them together and you can see what they can do. Gold was theirs, and the smiles on the faces of the skaters, coaches and other athletes from their team told of a hard earned journey to the podium. The Colombian skaters have been under an enormous amount of pressure at this meet. They have had a lot of media coverage from their press, TV, papers and radio. Well before the competition started. They have had stories about them shown all over Colombia. They have done individual interviews. The stress has shown in some of the races, the home town advantage can sometimes work against them. They fought off the US team to take the silver medal, not what they had trained for, planned and dreamt about. Possibly they felt more disappointed for the crowd; they stood proudly on the podium to receive their flowers and medals.

Junior Men: The boys from Venezuela were keen to show their new Federation President, Fabio, as well as their coach, how well they could perform. After they caused one re-start, the race got off to a clean start.. Italy led most of the race. After a warning was given to Chile the race settled down to monotonous succession of just lapping. A collision between Colombia and Chinese Taipei saw Chinese Taipei eliminated, and Colombia out of a chance with a skater down on the track. Italy grabbed this chance and took their lead to more than 20m. The United States and Venezuela hawked on the line, giving them silver and bronze, respectively. Italy was now able to celebrate, something they are used to doing a lot more of than they have been doing at this meet.

Senior Ladies: 18 ladies sharing 15 laps of this beautiful and very fast 200m track was a sight to see. The skaters from Chile were keen to raise their team’s spirits with a good result. They had found it difficult racing in Colombia, because the two bank tracks that the National Team of Chile train on in Santiago and Nunoa, are not nearly as fast as the one they are racing on here in Cali, Colombia. They have been reluctant in the turns, with so much speed from the straights, they found they were insecure and unstable.. They always give 110% and did not do less in the ladies relay final.

Five laps into the race saw Alex Vivas take the lead. The Colombian crowd jumped to their feet, encouraging their skater in the way they do best, making their usual deafening noises. One member of the crowd was Alex’s church paster, he travelled all the way from Bogota with a rain-proof sign to hold high and he yelled as loud as anyone when she skated the Colombian team to the front of the pack. All the women in this relay have a lot of speed skating experience. They do not all get to relay together as much as they might like, but they know how to do their jobs. Sara from the US had an accident while in residency (National Team training) almost cracking her ribs and also damaging her liver, but that was obviously not on her mind when she worked with the other 2 skaters from the US to take a commanding lead half way through the race. Brittany Bowe had been disappointed with her results at this competition, so it was with a renewed vigor that she strode away from the other teams, her long legs extending as she drove her body down the straights. Within a lap, their lead was reeled back in. With four laps to race, a blanket thrown over the lead skater would have covered all the teams, they were so close.. A home town advantage can do a lot of things, as Colombia led the skaters around till the bell lap. IN the very last corner, the US was able to make a beautiful inside pass to take the gold. As Colombia and Korea jostled positions, resulting in a delayed decision by the officials, giving Colombia Silver and Korea the bronze.

Senior Men: Italy was very anxious to get away fast from the stat line, but as they jumped the gun, the whistle was blown and the race re-started. Colombia jumped and the race started. They led till 10 laps to go and then the lead changed more than once a lap. Chinese Taipei followed Colombia closely, and then moved to the front catching everyone off-guard. Chinese Taipei now led by 20m, they seem to have been underestimated, even though they had made the final and had shown they were a force to be reckoned with. Only half way through the race, Chinese Taipei had a commanding lead, leaving France, USA, Colombia, Italy and Korea to fight it out for the other two positions. Italy showed that it’s true, that they are most famous for their sprinters, they had a difficult time to get past the United States and Korea, with France fighting for a place on the podium. Italy lunged into second place, snatching the silver medal and Korea mad a another podium finish, grasping third and the bronze medal.