Mexico celebrates the silver medal, on the podium of the women's group all around event of the Pan American Games Santiago 2023 © Getty Images

The Mexican Rhythmic Gymnastics team clinched the silver medal at the Pan American Games in Santiago 2023 and secured a historic Olympic spot. For the first time, Mexico will have representation in the Olympic Games in this discipline, achieving a historic qualification for Paris 2024. 

Julia Gutiérrez, Ana Flores, Kimberly Salazar, Adirem Tejeda, and Dalia Alcocer finished in second place in the All-Around competition with a score of 61.750.

"We are very happy because it's the first qualification of the rhythmic gymnastics team for the Olympic Games, making history. But now, we will work even harder to elevate Mexico's name to the top," stated national coach Blajaith Aguilar.

Mexico's team celebrate after defeating Brazil and winning the bronze medal in the women's foil teams fencing event of the Pan American Games Santiago 2023 © Getty Images
Mexico's team celebrate after defeating Brazil and winning the bronze medal in the women's foil teams fencing event of the Pan American Games Santiago 2023 © Getty Images

The first place went to the representatives of Brazil, Barbara Urquiza, Gabriella Coradine, Victoria Anderson, Giovanna Oliveira, and Nicole Pircio, who accumulated a total of 29.050 points, enough to claim the gold medal. 

Brazil had already secured their Olympic spot in this discipline at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Valencia 2023, so the qualification automatically passed to Mexico despite winning the silver.

Brazil's team competes in the rhythmic gymnastics 3 ribbons and 2 balls qualification of the Pan American Games Santiago 2023 © Getty Images
Brazil's team competes in the rhythmic gymnastics 3 ribbons and 2 balls qualification of the Pan American Games Santiago 2023 © Getty Images

The United States completed the podium with Katrine Sakhnov, Gergana Petkova, Hana Starkman, Isabelle Connor, and Karolina Saverino, scoring 26.800 points.

With this historic result, Mexico now has a total of 101 medals in this Pan American event, with the goal remaining to improve their performance from Lima 2019.

The first Mexican gymnast to qualify for the Olympic Games was Rut Castillo in the 2020 Tokyo edition, and now the women's team makes history and will compete in Paris 2024