On the first day of athletics, the runner Laura Galván won the silver medal in the 10,000 meters event at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile 2023.

Galván set the pace in the first laps, but it was around the 8,800 meters mark that the Peruvian Luz Rojas took the lead and pulled away to not give in to the pressure.

Rojas ran alone and completed the last two laps of the 10,000 meters with a time of 33 minutes, 12 seconds, and 99 hundredths.

Galván, on the other hand, ran separating herself from the American Ednah Kurgat, to take the silver medal with a time of 33 minutes, 15.85 seconds, while Kurgat stopped the clock at 33 minutes and 16.61 seconds.

The day was cold for the runners who opened the events on the track of the National Stadium Julio Martínez.

Galván talked about the experience she had coming into these Pan American Games, which helped her reach the podium.

"I felt relaxed, without so much pressure, because they are my second Games and I have been in bigger events, and that pressure that many times is a factor, so that has been something very important and that is no longer a factor, but you need that experience and I want to take that beautiful experience from these Pan American Games into what is coming because the world level is difficult," said the Mexican long-distance runner.

The activity for this Tuesday will start at 06:00 hours with the decathlon events. Daniel Fernando Martínez will compete in the 5,000 meters and Cecilia Tamaño, who qualified for the final of the 100 meters sprint, will also be in action.