Ortega established himself at the senior level in 2013. He won his first Colombian senior title in June and took the bronze medal at the 2013 South American Championships in Athletics with a personal best of . The 2013 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships was hosted in Medellín and he came second to Hayden Reed with a junior personal best of . He improved further to a South American junior record and championship record of to win gold at the 2013 South American Junior Championships in Athletics, which was also in Colombia. A Colombian senior record came at the 2013 Bolivarian Games, where his throw of brought him the gold medal in a games record.