Brazil dominates at South American Games, Romero throws record

Chile’s Claudio Romero delivered the top performance during the final two days of athletics competition at the South American Games. Once again, Brazil was the strongest nation of the 12th edition of the Games that concluded in Asunción, Paraguay, on Saturday (15).

Romero, the 22-year-old NCAA champion from Santiago, set a championship record to win the men's discus, throwing 64.99m for the fourth-best winning mark of his career in the third round of the contest. Colombian Mauricio Ortega, the South American record-holder with 70.29m from 2020, was an early leader with a 63.59m season’s best from his first attempt. But he was not able to respond after Romero improved to 64.99m and Ecuador’s Juan Jose Caicedo finished third with 62.10m. Brazil’s Izabela da Silva, who made the final of the Tokyo Olympic Games, won the women’s competition with 60.86m, also a championship record, ahead of her compatriot Andressa Morais (60.10m).

The high humidity of Asunción became a factor during the final two days of competition, but some fine performances were still recorded. Colombian Martha Valeria Araujo won the heptathlon with a personal best and championship record of 6112 points, a mark that places her fourth on the South American all-time list. The 26-year-old, who won the Ibero-American title earlier this year, was very consistent throughout the two days of competition, setting three personal bests (13.34 in the 100m hurdles, 13.71m in the shot put and 54.22m in the javelin) to improve her PB by 137 points (13.34/0.0, 1.68m, 13.71m, 25.37/-0.4, 6.17m/0.8, 54.22m, 2:26.58). Local favourite Ana Camila Pirelli of Paraguay was second with 5756 points, while Ecuador’s Joice Micolta was third with 5396.

Brazilians win 35km race walk crowns

Brazilians Caio Bonfim and Viviane Lyra claimed the inaugural 35km race walk titles with convincing victories. The 31-year-old Bonfim, seventh in the event at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, won in 2:34:17 ahead of Peruvian Cesar Augusto Rodriguez (2:35:20), while the 29-year-old Lyra, eighth in Oregon, triumphed with 2:50:57, beating Ecuador’s Karla Jaramillo by a big margin (2:54:01).

More championship records were set in the marathon races, being held for the first time since the 1998 edition of the Games. On this occasion two athletes from Ecuador were victorious, Christian Vasconez winning the men’s race in 2:16:34 and Rosa Alba Chacha the women’s in 2:34:26.

In the distance races held on the track, the best performances came in the women’s 5000m where Argentina’s Fedra Luna set a championship record and personal best of 15:41.78. The 27-year-old, who had already won the 1500m, beat Venezuela’s Joselyn Brea with a strong 63.7 last lap. Brea, the Ibero-American champion, produced a season’s best of 15:42.70, while Luz Mery Rojas was third with 15:49.85. Chile’s Carlos Diaz (29:15.66) and Argentina’s Florencia Borelli (33:43.37) won the 10,000m races.

Brazilian Lucas Rodrigues da Silva and Ecuador’s Gabriela Suarez, both aged 21, won the 200m finals in 20.89 (-0.5m/s) and 23.06 (-0.6m/s), respectively. Two Colombian athletes, Fanor Escobar and Valeria Cabezas, were the best at 400m hurdles with 50.63 and 57.17, while in the triple jump Venezuela’s Leodan Torrealba Brazil’s Gabriele Sousa dos Santos dominated with 16.31m (1.6m/s) and 13.74m (-0.6m/s), respectively. 

Chambers adds rare gold for Panama

Chamar Chambers achieved an unexpected and valuable victory at 800m, taking the title in 1:46.99, a national record. The 24-year-old claimed Panama’s fifth-ever gold medal at these Games, after the titles won by Alonso Edward at 100m (2014 and 2018), Irving Saladino in the long jump (2014) and Ivette Lewis at the 100m hurdles (2014).

Chambers won clearly ahead of Venezuela’s Jose Antonio Maita (1:47.26) and Brazil’s Eduardo Moreira (1:47.39). Uruguay’s Deborah Rodriguez took the women’s title after a tactical race, clocking 2:08.14 to win her third consecutive title at the distance. Both Chambers and Rodriguez achieved their country’s only gold medals at this edition of the Games.

Brazil’s Welington Morais won the men’s shot put competition with 20.00m, while Chile’s Natalia Duco won the women’s with 17.08m.

Two illustrious athletes, Argentina’s German Chiaraviglio and Venezuela’s Robeilys Peinado, won the pole vault competitions. Chiaraviglio gained his second gold at the Games with a 5.45m clearance after winning in 2006, the year in which he won the world U20 title. Peinado, bronze medalist at the 2017 World Championships, had to compete with borrowed poles, but managed to retain the crown she claimed in 2018 thanks to a 4.20m performance.

Colombian Gerard Giraldo and Argentina’s Belen Casetta took the 3000m steeplechase races in respective times of 8:40.28 and 10:23.28, winning their first titles at these Games.

Venezuela and Colombia shared all the honours in the remaining relays. Venezuela won the men’s 4x100m in 39.47 and the 4x400m in 3:06.54, while Colombia prevailed with 44.61 and 3:31.30, a championship record.

The medal table was topped by Brazil with 14 gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze medals, followed by Argentina (9, 4, 2), Colombia (8, 7, 9), Venezuela (6, 4, 2), Ecuador (5, 8, 6) and Chile (4, 5, 4). Nine countries won at least one gold, while 12 countries obtained at least one medal.

Eduardo Biscayart for World Athletics