Mexico shines in artistic gymnastics with Alexa Moreno and Natalia Escalera

Gymnasts Paulina Campos, Natalia Escalera, Greys Briceño, Ahtziri Sandoval, Cassandra Loustalot and Alexa Moreno, during the Pan American Gymnastics, in Medellín.

Mexican gymnasts have given a triumph of elegance to their country. The women's team finished as the second best country in the Pan American Championships, where they sought to seal their pass to the World Cup in Belgium and the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile this year. With a good performance in the different apparatuses, Mexico had a better score (159.099) above Canada (155.768), Brazil (150.399) and (Argentina 147.366), although it was surpassed by the USA B team (162.167). The gymnasts who captured the attention in the contest held in Medellín were Alexa Moreno, the fourth best gymnast in the past Olympic Games and gold winner in the jump test this Saturday, and the promise Natalia Escalera of 20 years.

The Mexican team was led by Alexa Moreno, followed by Natalia Escalera, Ahtziri Sandoval, Cassandra Loustalot and Paulina Campos, in addition to Greys Briceño, who was the reserve gymnast. Moreno returned to high-level competitions in 2023 after spending two years in recovery after undergoing shoulder and ankle surgeries. With 28 years, the athlete from Baja California wants to compete throughout the Olympic cycle: the Central Americans in July, the World Cup in October and the Pan American Games. The goal is to reach his third Olympic Games in Paris. Moreno has been the great ambassador of Mexican gymnastics after in 2018 she won the first medal for Mexico in a World Gymnastics and shared the podium with the legendary Simone Biles. In the jumping test, Moreno was left with the best score above the American Joscelyn Roberson, in a fine and accurate performance. Escalera was third and Sandoval fourth.

The jewel of gymnastics that has been forged these years is called Natalia Escalera. At 20 years old he has already competed in two world championships, but it is in this period when he wants to reach his first Games. "This is my first Olympic cycle, firm and planned. I feel very good, I have started the year very strong and all this serves as a focus for the important competitions that are approaching, I am prepared for what is coming, "said Escalera in an interview with the Commission of Physical Culture and Sport (Conade). Escalera finished second in the all-around event, while Alexa Moreno finished fifth. The young promise, in addition, was the third best valued in the floor test and in the asymmetric bars. In the beam test, Loustalot obtained the fourth best score.

The men's team had a good performance to finish, by teams, in fifth place in the classification below USA, Brazil, Colombia and Canada. The Mexicans who achieved their pass to the Pan American Games are Isaac Núñez, Fabián De Luna, Josué Juárez, Maximiliano Galicia Flores, Rodrigo Gómez and Alonso Pérez Torres, reserve gymnast.

Unlike other sports such as water swimming, Conade provided support and dissemination to the performance of gymnasts. The big difference is that in the Swimming Federation the president is accused of embezzling millions of pesos and has harmed generations of swimmers since 2009. Ana Guevara, the highest commissioner of sport, has made public that it is reflected in the story of overcoming Alexa Moreno, who in the Rio Olympics was wronged by her physical complexion. The gymnast, proof of mental endurance, put aside that and took advantage of it to use it as fuel to reach this point in which she is a reference for the sport of her country.

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