Finally the 24 athletes that will compete at the Olympics for the very first time ever have been announced. After the lap sprint semifinals, they have been presented to the audience crowding the road circuit and live on World Skate TV. On next october these faboulous 24 athletes will compete in the 2018 Buenos Aires YOG for the Olympic Gold Medal in the Combined: 500mt+D sprint, 1.000mt sprint and 5.000mt Elimination.

Junior Ladies

Gabriela Rueda Rueda COLOMBIA 114 pt
Honorine Barrault FRANCE 108 pt
Giorgia Valanzano ITALY 106 pt
Nerea Langa SPAIN 96 pt
Ashly Marín Torres CHILE 89 pt
Angelina Otto GERMANY 77 pt
Corinne Stoddard USA 71 pt
Marit Van Beijnum NETHERLANDS 71 pt
Yerim Lee KOREA 71 pt
Kuan- Chih Wang CHINESE TAIPEI 71 pt
Fernanda Illanes Cabrera ARGENTINA 50 pt
Giselle Stogdale AUSTRALIA 44 p

Junior Men

Jhonny Angulo COLOMBIA 103 pt
Ewen Foussadier FRANCE 103 pt
Merijn Scheperkamp NETHERLANDS 95 pt
Vincenzo Maiorca ITALY 94 pt
Nahuel Schelling Quevedo ARGENTINA 81 pt
Jongj in Cheon KOREA 79 pt
Ivan Galar SPAIN 78 pt
Sabien Tinson USA 70 pt
Tao Chen CHINA 67 pt
Chia- Wei Chang CHINESE TAIPEI 64 pt
Ignacio Mardones Vidal CHILE 63 pt
Alexander Myint AUSTRALIA 11 pt

The first final competition in the afternoon was the 20.000 Elimination Junior Women: a long distance race in which the team strategy and the endurance can make the difference. At 8 laps to go Colombia, France, and Italy has two athletes in the race. Edda Paluzzi cannot help her teammate anymore and Anais Pedroni was left alone to push against the Colombians. It was then the turn of the Mexican girls to leave. Honorine Barrault, the France girl who crashed at the beginning of the race, is still in the run at the last lap when her teammate Marie Dupuy has been eliminated. The Colombians started the final rush: Nathalia Bermudez crossed first, Corinne Stoddard - USA, second and Gabriela Rueda Rueda third.

Gold - Nathalia Bermudez - COLOMBIA
Silver - Corinne Stoddard - USA
Bronze - Gabriela Rueda Rueda - COLOMBIA

It was then the turn of the Junior men on the long distance competition. North Koreans and Colombians lead the first part of the race: usually Colombia is not so strong in endurance competitions, but in the sunny and hot Arnhem they really spent all their energies. After 10 km the pack is still quite solid. There was a bad crash in the middle of the pack but it involved only Mathieu Belloir from France.
At 6 laps to go, Jason Sutteles - Belgium, tried to come back but he felt down in a crash involving Inho Choi - South Korea, and slowed down the other athletes in the middle of the pack. Andres Bello Quemba - Colombia, tried to go ahead but Jordy Van Workum - Netherlands, came back with all his energy and became 2018 World Champion in 20.000 Elimination:

Gold - Jordy Van Workum - NETHERLANDS
Silver - Andres Bello Quemba - COLOMBIA
Bronze - Joel Guacho Zamora - ECUADOR

The Senior competitions started with the 10.000mt points. In the women race, there was a head-to-head between Francesca Lollobrigida and Johana Viveros: once again in these worlds, Lollobrigida was not able to get the Gold, lost for just one point. Mareika Thu, got the bronze thanks to better time over Yang, Arias and Halbout. Head-to-Head also in the men race between the Colombian Daniel Martinez and Diogo Marreiros from Portugal both with 12 points: the colombian won for the better time; bronze for Bart Swings with 11 points. Nothing to do for Daniel Niero - Italy.

10.000mt points Senior Women
Gold - Johana Viveros - COLOMBIA
Silver - Francesca Lollobrigida - ITALY
Bronze - Mareike Thum - GERMANY

10.000mt points Senior Men
Gold - Daniel Zapata Martinez - COLOMBIA
Silver - Diogo Marreiros - PORTUGAL
Bronze - Bart Swings - BELGIUM

The 1 Lap sprint of the Senior Categories closed the first day in Arnhem for the road Circuit: a very quick competition in which a good start can define the final results.
On the starting line for Senior Women: the two Colombians Andrea Canon and Yesenia Escobar, the Italian Giulia Bongiorno and Erin Jackson from USA.

In the Men race we had on the starting line: Simon Albrecht from Germany, Michel Mulder - Netherlands and the two Colombians Pedro Causil and Edwin Estrada.

One Lap Sprint Senior Women
Gold - Andrea Canon - COLOMBIA
Silver - Yesenia Escobar - COLOMBIA
Bronze - Erin Jackson - USA

One Lap Sprint Senior Men
Gold - Edwin Estrada - COLOMBIA
Silver - Simon Albrecht - GERMANY
Bronze - Pedro Causil - COLOMBIA

The podcast of the finals and semifinals are available here
Track/Road

Click here for all the info and results about the event 

Live streaming Schedule

July 5

17.15 – 18.45 20000m elimination JW/JM Final
18.45 – 19.15  Lap Circuit Sprint SW/SM Semifinal
19.15 – 20.30 10000m points race SW/SM Final
20.30 – 20.45  Lap Circuit Sprint SW/SM Final
20.45 – 21.45 Awards Ceremony

July 6

17.15 – 17.45 Lap Circuit Sprint JW/JM Semifinal
17.45 – 18.45 10000m points race JW/JM Final 
18.45 – 19.15 Awards Ceremony
19.15 – 20.30 20000m elimination SW/SM Final
20.30 – 21.00 Lap Circuit Sprint JW/JM Final
21.00 – 22.00 Awards Ceremony

July 7

19.00 – 19.15  100m sprint JW/JM Semifinal
19.15 – 19.30 100m sprint SW/SM Semifinal
20.30 – 20.40 100m sprint JW/JM Final
20.40 – 20.50 100m sprint SW/SM Final
20.50 – 21.20 Awards Ceremony

Pics Credits: Luis Ramirez