Colombia’s Mariana Pajon’s takes gold at BMX world championships

Colombia’s Olympic gold-medal-winning cyclist, Mariana Pajon, won first place at the BMX women’s final in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Pajon, who also won the 2011 BMX  World Championship, came in first place overall with a record-breaking 26.983 seconds, almost half a second faster than Alise Post (US) who took second place with a time of 27.432 seconds.

She is called “The Queen of BMX”. She won her first national title at the age of five and first world title at the age of nine. With this latest win, the 22-year-old can now count 16 gold medals in her BMX career thus far.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Pajon won Colombia’s second gold medal ever at an Olympic event; the first was won in 2000 by weightlifter Maria Isabel Urrutia. That same year, Pajon was named Sportswoman of the Year by newspaper El Espectador ahead of Colombian soccer sensation Radamel Falcao due to her superb performance at the London Olympics.

By Adriana Rueda

Source: Colombia Reports

Image: Colombia Reports