A summary of Canadian successes at the Pan American Games in Santiago, October 22, 2023
Mary-Sophie Harvey won a second gold medal in a row on Sunday at the Santiago Pan American Games Aquatic Complex. After that obtained in the 4x100m freestyle relay with Katerine Savard, the Trifluvienne was the fastest in the 200m freestyle final.
She posted a time of 1:58.08 and narrowly beat Brazil’s Maria Da Vista Costa (0.04 seconds). American Camille Spink was the third swimmer to touch the wall (0.53 seconds).
“I wanted to do well, but I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself to enjoy the moment. I was pleasantly surprised by my time in qualifying and it made me want to go for the gold medal in the final,” commented Mary-Sophie Harvey.
Harvey’s day of work concluded a little later with another medal, bronze (1.45 seconds) this time, in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay. The Quebecer was the last torchbearer of the maple leaf and she was able to maintain the third place acquired by her teammates Finlay Knox, Javier Acevedo and Maggie Mac Neil.
The Brazilians won the gold medal, followed by the Americans (0.43 seconds).
“The mixed relays are so much fun, it’s completely different, the atmosphere is special. I needed some fun! I’m learning something in every race, it’s a good warm-up for the 100m freestyle that’s tomorrow,” added Harvey.
Édouard Fullum-Huot and Katerine Savard also received a medal after swimming for Canada in qualification.
Savard then jumped into the pool for the 100m butterfly final, where she finished fifth with a time of 59.4s.
The three Quebecers in action on Sunday all reached the podium during their respective finals at the Santiago Aquatic Center.
Pamela Ware and Mia Vallée scored a Canadian double in the individual one-meter springboard. Ware’s consistency was what made the difference, as she closed the final with two good dives for identical scores of 58.50 points. She finished the final with 280.25 points.
“I feel so happy and proud of myself and of Mia. This morning I wasn’t feeling too good after foreplay. I was able to start from scratch. I’m a little surprised, but very proud” commented Ware.
For her part, Vallée also started the competition strong, but a course error on her fourth dive ultimately made the difference. She still finished with the silver medal around her neck by virtue of her 272.30 points.
“I am incredibly happy with what I showed today [Sunday]. I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get the gold medal because I missed my easiest dive. It was the first competition in over a year where I felt like myself. This feeling makes me really happy, I have worked on my mentality in the last few months and it is really encouraging,” said Vallée.
On the men’s side, Nathan Zsombor-Murray and his teammate Rylan Wiens took second place in the 10m synchro final which was won by Mexicans Kevin Berlin and Randal Willars.
“We’ve only been able to do two practices together in the 10m in the last few months with Rylan’s injuries. I am very happy with our performance. We were excellent in terms of timing. This bodes very well for the Olympic year ahead,” mentioned Zsombor-Murray.
Like the male gymnasts of the Canadian delegation, Aurélie Tran, Frédérique Sgarbossa and their teammates reached the podium at the Pan American Games in Santiago. They helped Canada place third in the final of the women’s team competition.
Tran performed routines on all four apparatus, earning her highest score on the uneven bars with 13,400 points. She placed fifth in the individual all-around qualifications, earning her ticket to the final to be held on Monday.
The Quebecer will also be in action during the uneven bars, floor and beam finals later this week.
For his part, Sgarbossa obtained scores of 13,033 on the vault table and 12,100 on the uneven bars.
Ava Stewart, Cassandra Lee and Sydney Turner were Tran and Sgarbossa’s teammates.
Dylan Le recorded two personal bests and placed seventh in Sunday’s climbing speed qualifier with his time of 5.97 seconds.
In the first elimination round, Le defeated Ecuadorian Gabriel Cancel by 0.46 seconds before losing in the quarterfinals to Carlos Granja (0.27 seconds), also of Ecuador.
The grand final was won by the American Samuel Watson ahead of his compatriot Noah Bratschi (0.59 seconds).
Charlélie Mercier was eliminated in his first fight in the under 80 kg category on Sunday against Chilean Joaquin Andrés Churchill Martinez. The 23-year-old from Lévis, who was participating in his first Pan American Games, lost 2-0.
Quebecer Marc-André Bergeron will fight Monday in the 80 kg and over table.
Wyatt Sanford won his first fight of the Pan American Games by unanimous decision on Sunday in the under 63.5 kg category. He defeated Cuban Lazaro Jorge Alvarez Estrada to advance to the quarter-finals.
“I feel really good! He was a tough opponent to start the tournament. The game plan put in place by my coaching team was followed to the letter and that’s really what allowed me to win,” noted Sanford.
At the end of the day, Junior Petanqui imitated his compatriot by winning by unanimous decision of the judges in the under 71 kg category against Aaron Solomon Prince of Trinidad and Tobago.
Naima Moreira Laliberté was the best Canadian in the first round of the individual Grand Prix, finishing 9th with 72,739 points.
Béatrice Boucher (11th, 71,147), Mathilde Blais Tetreault (12th, 70,391) and Camille Carier Bergeron (20th, 67,565) were also in action on Sunday.
The competition will resume on Monday in Santiago.
Undefeated in three matches on Saturday, racquetball player Frédérique Lambert suffered a first defeat on Sunday morning. She lost in four close sets of 9-11, 7-11, 11-9 and 7-11 to Argentina’s Natalia Mendez.
Lambert and her teammate Michèle Morissette faced Mexicans Montserrat Mejia and Alexandra Herrera in doubles and subsequently lost in three sets of 11-3, 11-7 and 11-7.
Samuel Murray marked the start of his individual tournament with a 3-0 victory against Costa Rican Gabriel Garcia. The player from Baie-Comeau won 11-8, 11-6 and 12-10.
Murray did it again in the afternoon with a doubles victory alongside his Alberta teammate Coby Iwaasa. The duo faced a tough challenge and defeated Americans Alejandro Landa and Daniel De La Rosa in three rounds.
The Canadians had to show resilience during the game, trailing two sets to zero at the start of the game. Murray and Iwaasa came back strong to win the next three sets with scores of 11-8, 11-8 and 11-4.
Murray then teamed with Lambert in the mixed doubles quarterfinals. Trailing 2-0 after two sets against Bolivians Angelica Barrios and Conrrado Moscoso, the Quebecers were able to win the third set 11-8, but then had to admit defeat after losing the fourth set 11 -4.
Eliana Zhang continues her journey in the individual tournament. She won a second match in as many days on Sunday, beating Brazilian Juliana Viana Vieira 2-0 (21-20, 22-20).
The Quebecer scored another victory at the end of the day, this time in doubles alongside Wen Yu Zhang. The Canadians defeated the Dominicans Nairoy Abigail Jienez Ramirez and Alissa Juleixi Acosta in two sets (21-10 and 21-11).
