Kaitlyn Reclusado: first female gold medal in Santiago 2023

Santiago, Chile 21-10-2023.- Kaitlyn Marie Reclusado of the United States dominated independent athletes' team representative Alejandra Higueros to win the gold medal in the women's individual women's event, the first medal for a female athlete at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.

Puerto Rico's Arelis Medina and Mexico's Cecilia Lee took bronze.

"It's still unreal, but at the same time I'm very happy to be part of the beginning of something. I know it's going to be great. I know Team USA is going to win a lot of medals, so it's still a little unreal that I'm the first one to medal," Reclusado told PanamSports.

In the quarterfinals, Reclusado defeated Katlen Jerves of Ecuador 7830 to 7350. In the semifinals she defeated Lee of Mexico and then defeated the representative of the Independent Athletes Team Alejandra Higueros, with a final score of 7530 to 7280.

According to Team USA, Reclusado is originally from Daly City, California, where she was drawn to poomsae early in her taekwondo career. "Her discipline privileges artistry and technique over the traditional sparring that fans may see during an Olympic Games. It is a display of precision, accuracy and mental concentration," notes the media.

"I like the dynamics of it," he explained referring to poomsae. "Although sparring is very strategic, for poomsae there is an art to it. There is a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it.

"And I think whoever trains the hardest gets noticed on the mat."

Reclusado, a two-time U.S. national champion, is in her second year at Princeton University, where she hopes to earn her degree while continuing to compete for Team USA.

The final of this category pitted the number 3 and 4 of the world poomsae ranking against each other: Reclusado vs.

This year, the North American won the World Open in Heredia, Costa Rica; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At the last world poomsae championship in Goyang, South Korea, a year ago, she won a bronze medal in the women's U30 division.