BOGOTA, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos on Sunday congratulated female cyclist Mariana Pajon who won the BMX elite category world championship in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

"Congratulations to Mariana Pajon, gold-medal winner and BMX world champion. Our athletes are the pride of Colombia!" said Santos in Twitter.

Mariana Pajon won and beat track cycling record with a time of 26.983 seconds.

Pajon, who has won 16 titles, was followed by United States' Alise Post (silver) with a time of 27.432 and Netherland's Laura Smulders (bronze) with a time of 27.718.

With this new victory, Pajon, 22, begins her career towards Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games, where she expects to become again medal winner as she did in London 2012, when she won her first gold medal.