The Exchange Visitor program welcomes a diverse group of students to the United States through the Summer Work and Travel program. We welcome everyone from future doctors to leadership superstars to athletic champions! Each participants’ unique traits and history makes them a valuable members the World Wide Cultural Exchange family.

In this blog, we will introduce Braulio Jaramillo, an Argentinian Physical Education student and triathlete!

Triathlon / Greek origin - from τρεῖς or treis (three) and ἆθλος or athlos (contest).

Braulio’s early life was built around sports. His father was a dedicated cyclist and passed down his passion for an active lifestyle to Braulio. In childhood, Braulio participated in mountain biking and competitive swimming. By his teens, he was training for triathlons. At 19, Braulio competed in his first triathlon race in Buenos Aires, where he placed 3rd overall.

He has been competing in triathlons for over three years and a few of of his greatest accomplishments are:

qualifying for the 2017 Maui World Triathlon Championship
placing 2nd in the 2018 Pan-American Championship
qualifying for the 2018 Maui World Championship, where he was the first Argentinian in his age category to ever compete.

Last year, he placed 1st at both the Xterra Championship race in the Dominican Republic and the Key West Triathlon race in Florida. His goal is to become a professional triathlon racer by 2021.

His success can be attributed to his impressive training regimen. Braulio splits his high-performance training into separate training days consisting of five hours of training per day. His maintains the following training schedule:

Monday - 2.5 miles of swimming, an hour of strength training, and an 8 mile run.
Tuesday, Thursday - 2.5 hours of cycling, a light swim, and an hour of strength training
Friday - 13-mile endurance-building run
Saturday - stretching and yoga to allow for muscle and central nervous system recovery
Sunday - 3 hours of cycling and a 30-minute run
This is his competition training so it is very extraneous however since he is not going to be racing during the program, he takes a little bit of a lighter approach to his everyday workouts.

While on the program, Braulio takes a lighter approach to his workout schedule, as he immerses himself into American life. He works as an exhibit attendant at WonderWorks where he rotates between assisting visitor with the gyroscopic roller coaster and the hurricane simulator. Braulio’s favorite aspect of American culture is the cultural diversity and the open-mindedness of American people. However, this diversity can lead to difficulty in understand all the different accents!

Interview conducted by Marcus Figueroa.

Participant Spotlight: Braulio Jaramillo