Here we are! These 6 wonderful and powerful athletes made it: they are Olympic Champions!

WOMEN MEDALLISTS
GOLD RUEDA RUEDA Gabriela Isabel COL - Colombia
SILVER BARRAULT Honorine FRA - France
BRONZE VALANZANO Giorgia ITA - Italy

MEN MEDALLISTS
GOLD ANGULO REINA Jhony Andres COL - Colombia
SILVER MAIORCA Vincenzo ITA - Italy
BRONZE SCHEPERKAMP Merijn NED - Netherlands

Under a cloudy sky threatening rain, the 500mt+D heats took place in the morning: 8 women and 8 men passed to the semifinals and gained one more chance to climb on the Olympic podium. Semifinals and finals took place in the afternoon.

500mt+D Heats
In the Women category, passed to the first semifinal: the Colombian Gabriela Rueda, World champion and leader of the partial ranking here in Buenos Aires with 28 points; Honorine Barrault from France, who was second in the ranking of the first two phases of the combined with 25 points; Nerea Langa from Spain, third place in the partial ranking with 24 points; Maria Arias from Ecuador who, with 18 points and the sixth place in the ranking, had to fight with the leader of the group. Only two of them can pass to the final and the race was really hard for all of them, meaning the first Olympic Gold medal being closer and closer. On the second semifinal start line we had: Wang Kuanchich from Taipei - 18 points and 5th place in the ranking; the Italian Giorgia Valanzano, 4th in the ranking with 23 points; Ashly Martin Torres from Chile with 14 points at the 9th place; Marit Van Beijnum from Netherlands with 7 points at the 12th rank.

Also the competition in the Men category was completely open with the first 6 positions in the partial ranking really close. In the first semifinal we had: Jonjiin Cheon from Korea - 18 points at the 6th place; the Italian Vincenzo Maiorca who, thanks to a great 5.000mt Elimination, came back from the fifth position of the partial ranking to the second place with 24 points; the Host Country athlete Nahuel Schelling - 20 points at the 4th place; Merjin Scheperkamp from Netherlands - at the 5th place with 19 points. In the second semifinal: the Colombian Champion Jhony Angulo, leader of the partial ranking with 27 points; Chiawei Chang from Chinese Taipei - 7th with 16 points; the French Ewen Foussadier, 11th with 9 points due to a bad performance in the 5.000mt Elimination race of yesterday; and the Spanish Ivan Galar who was only 13th with 4 points.

500mt+D Semifinals
In the afternoon it was the turn of the semifinals and finals. The first two women to pass to the final were Gabriela Rueda and Honorine Barrault: After a slow start, the Colombian girl took the lead and crossed the finish line before the French athlete; Nothing to do for Nerea Langa who arrived third and lost the chance to reach the podium. In the second semifinal, Wang from Chinese Taipei took the lead followed by the Italian Giorgia Valanzano and both of them passed to the final.

When it came to the Men, the first semifinal saw a photofinish between the Italian Vincenzo Maiorca and Merijn Scheperkamp - Netherlands. Cheon from Korea has been disqualified for double false start: the previous one was in the heats in the morning. In the second semifinal Chang and Angulo easily qualified.

500mt+D Finals
On the starting line for the Women final: Gabriela Rueda, Giorgia Valanzano, Kuanchih Wang and Honorine Barrault. Rueda, having won the previous phases of the combined, has the Gold Medal quite already in her pocket: she must avoid faults o falls and can be sure to climb on the highest step of the podium. Barrault had to try the push to defend the second position in the ranking against a motivated Valanzano: with Langa out of the final, Valanzano had the chance to come back and go for the Bronze. Three laps to decide the podium: Rueda and Valanzano ruled during all the race and crossed the finish line in this order, followed by Wang and Barrault. The last effort was not enough for the Italian girl: Barrault and Valanzano tied in the final ranking and, following the rules, the Silver medal went to France thanks to a better placement in the 5.000mt Elimination. Gold medal goes to the Colombian Gabriela Rueda: "I'm so proud to be here and I would like to thank Colombia supporting us at home! After passing the heats and the semifinals, my coach told me I alredy won the Gold. So I was calm, focused and I gave all I had: and you can see the results!"

Click here for the Women final ranking

The last race of this first Olympic Games was for the men and the attention of the crowdy track was all for those four guys: Vincenzo Maiorca, Chiawei Chang, Jhony Angulo and Merjin Shepempark. Maiorca was looking for the victory to try to stop the Colombian Angulo who had only thre points more in the ranking. Sheperkamp and Chang were fighting for the Bronze medal. Chang got the lead of the group followed by Sheperkamp, Angulo and Maiorca; One lap to go and, before the last bend, Angulo tried the final sprint but crossed the line with Chang and Scheperkamp and the three of them felt. They quickly stood up and continued the competition, but Maiorca had already crossed the finish line and got the Silver Medal; Bronze for Scheperkamp. Gold medal goes to the Colombian Joy Angulo: "I'm so happy and I would like to thank all my friends and teammate who supported me and my family, of course. I think that the 500mt was the most hard race for me, due to the fall. The other two races went well as we hoped. Now I have to keep working to be World Champion in the Senior category and, maybe, to have the chanche to compete also in the Olmpic Games in 2024"

Click here for the Men final ranking 

INLINE SPEED SKATING COMPETITION FORMAT

The Inline Speed Skating competition at the Summer Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018 will comprise two events: Men's Combined and Women's Combined whith 14 athletes in each events competing on three distances - 500mt+D Sprint, 1.000mt sprint and 5.000mt Elimination.

500mt+D Sprint
Three rounds: Quarterfinals (two heats with three skaters and two heats with four skaters) - Semifinals (two heats with four skaters) - Final (four skaters) The first two skaters from each heat progress to the next round.

1.000mt Sprint
Two rounds: Semifinals (two heats with seven skaters) and Final eight skaters). The first place from each heat and the six best times qualify for the Final.

5.000mt Elimination
All the skaters start the race. At each of seven single elimination points (21, 19, 17, 15, 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 3 and 1 laps to go) the last skater is eliminated. The remaining skaters will compete in the final sprint.

The event results are based on points: 14 points go to the winner of each distance, 13 points to the second place and 12 points to the third place. The remaining places are awarded from 11 points down to 1 point. Points in 500mt+D Sprint and 1.000mt Sprint distances are assigned based on times in the last completed round.
The final ranking of skaters is based on the total number of points earned in the three phases (higher points=higher ranking).

JUNIOR LADIES
Gabriela Rueda Rueda COLOMBIA
Honorine Barrault FRANCE
Giorgia Valanzano ITALY
Nerea Langa ESPANA
Ashly Marin Torres CHILE
Angelina Otto GERMANY
Marit Van Beijnum NETHERLANDS
Kuan-Chih Wang CHINESE TAIPEI
Andrea Lokvencova CZECH REPUBLIC
Maria Arias Armijos ECUADOR
Fernanda Illanes Cabrera ARGENTINA
Carolina Ferreira PORTUGAL
Ptjira Srisathitha THAILAND
Giselle Stodgale AUSTRALIA

JUNIOR MEN
Jhonny Angulo COLOMBIA
Ewen Foussadier FRANCE
Merijn Scheperkamp NETHERLANDS
Vincenzo Maiorca ITALY
Nahuel Schelling Quevedo ARGENTINA
Jonjing Cheon KOREA
Ivan Galar ESPANA
Thao Chen CHINA
Chia-wei Chang CHINESE TAIPEI
Ignacio Mardones Vidal CHILE
David Sarmiento Moscoso ECUADOR
Jason Suttel BELGIUM
Gustavo Rodriguez Rodriguez VENEZUELA
Alexander Mynt AUSTRALIA

JURY
Ismael Enrique Ochoa Orzo - COL
Roberta Marchegiani - ITA
Francois Richard Gigan - FRA
Rhoda Bueker - AUS
Kuang Chang Po - TPE
Kristin Michelle Di Julio Smith - USA
Adrian Alejandro Sosa Carbone - ARG
Gimena Anahi Contrera Diaz - ARG
Diego Jorge Alfonsin - ARG
Marina Veronica Anahi Barragan Saez - ARG
Laura Veronica Quevedo Wehren - ARG
Cristal Galvan - ARG

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