A summary of Canadian successes at the Pan American Games in Santiago, October 23, 2023
Gymnast Félix Dolci achieved on Monday what no Canadian had managed to do in more than 60 years: win the all-around at the Pan American Games presented in Santiago, Chile.
The Quebecer ended his day with a total of 82,531 points, ahead of the Brazilian Diogo Soares (81,865) and the American Donnell Whittenburg (81,764).
Dolci particularly excelled on floor (14,566) and parallel bars (14,366), where he dominated the rankings, as well as on rings (14,033) and vault (14,400) with second places .
“It was a very good competition, despite an error on the high bar which will have to be corrected in view of the Olympic Games because at that level, we will have to produce even more grandiose performances. In any case, I see that all the work we have done with the team and with my coach is really starting to pay off and I am extremely happy about it! » commented the new Pan American champion.
Ontarian Wilhelm Weiler was the last Canadian to obtain this title, in 1963.
“After qualifying, I knew I had missed two good chances for finals, but also that I had several important ones left and I was very optimistic about the performances to come. Today [Monday], I really managed to capitalize on the first and I am very proud of my performance! »
The 21-year-old from Laval will have the chance to add more on Tuesday and Wednesday, during the various apparatus finals. There will be sessions on the floor, on the rings and on the vaulting table.
“I’m staying grounded for the upcoming finals. I want to keep a cool head, stay focused on that because my work is not finished here,” he concluded with confidence.
The only other Canadian in action in the men’s all-around competition, William Emard took 16th place with a total of 75,664 points. The Quebecer finished second on floor (14,400), in addition to finishing the top 3 on the vault table (14,366) and rings (13,733).
Emard will finish her Pan American Games by competing in the high bar and parallel bars finals on Wednesday.
Aurélie Tran is another who impressed on Monday by finishing seventh in the women’s all-around competition thanks to a cumulative score of 50,465. Note that she finished among the top 10 on three apparatuses, namely floor (5th ), the beam (7th) and the vault table (10th).
The Repentignoise will be back for the finals on the uneven bars, floor and beam in the coming days.
The all-Quebec quartet composed of Camille Carier Bergeron (Sound of Silence 4), Naïma Moreira Laliberté (Statesman), Béatrice Boucher (Summerwood’s Limei) and Mathilde Blais Tétreault (Fedor) secured a Canadian spot for the Paris Olympics by winning the bronze medal in the team dressage competition.
“It takes a village, it takes a big team, and the people at home are part of this team and we want to tell them how grateful we are,” Camille Carier Bergeron told the Canadian Olympic Committee at the end of the day. .
The United States, already qualified for Paris, won the event with a total of 450,670 points, which allowed the next two teams to obtain the coveted ticket, Brazil (443,343) and Canada ( 431,937).
Equestrian sports events will resume on Tuesday.
Caeli McKay and Kate Miller gave a tough fight to the Mexican duo of Gabriela Agundez and Alejandra Orozco on Monday evening in the 10m synchronized final of the Pan American Games in Santiago. Although they were unable to achieve their goal of reaching the top of the podium, the Canadians will return from Chile with a personal best of 310.29 points and crucial experience ahead of the Paris Olympic Games.
The maple leaf pair was only on their fourth international outing, which did not prevent them from impressing during this session won at the last minute by Agundez and Orozco (315.42). Brazilians Ingrid De Oliveira and Giovanna Pedroso (273.60) completed the podium.
“We fought until the very end! We were facing teams that have been together for a very long time, while we are just starting to work on our synchronization. To win a medal with a record for Kate’s first Major Games is a great victory! » launched Caeli McKay after the competition.
Provisionally first after two passes on the platform, Canada’s divers made their only misstep of the evening on their third try. McKay and Miller, however, bounced back nicely in the next two rounds to put pressure on the Mexicans.
The latter, however, obtained a score of 80.64, the best in the final, on their last pass to snatch the title which belonged to McKay and her former partner Meaghan Benfeito, champions in 2019 in Lima.
“My takeaway is that we had a tough dive, but we got right back up. We faced adversity well and, in the end, we finished less than five points from gold with a failed dive. It’s really not that bad! » concluded McKay.
Also in action Monday night, Thomas Ciprick placed 17th in the 3-meter springboard preliminaries and failed to reach the final.
Mary-Sophie Harvey helped Canada win the silver medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay, where she joined forces with Javier Acevedo, Gabe Mastromatteo and Maggie Mac Neil.
The representatives of the maple leaf stopped the clock at 3 min 46.20 s, behind the United States, Pan American record in 3 min 44.71 s. The Brazilians (3:49.24) finished third.
Earlier in the day, Harvey finished just off the podium in the 100m freestyle A final. The Trifluvienne completed the race in 54.64 seconds, 0.14 seconds more than the American Catie de Loof, bronze medalist.
Gold medalist in the 100m butterfly on Sunday with a Pan-American record, Maggie Mac Neil did it again in this final by winning in 53.64s, another Pan-American mark and a new personal mark. Brazilian Stephanie Balduccini (54.13 s) won the silver medal.
Note that Édouard Fullum-Huot for his part swam the B final of the men’s 100m freestyle, which gave him ninth place in the distance rankings.
Eliana Zhang saw her run in the women’s singles draw end in the quarterfinals following her 21-12, 21-18 loss to Jennie Gai of the United States.
Later in the afternoon, in the women’s doubles quarterfinal, she teamed with Wen Yu Zhang to face Brazilians Juliana Viana Vieira and Sania Valeria Passos Lima.
Defeated 21-9 in the first table, the Canadians pushed the match to the limit by winning the second set 21-19. However, they lost 21-18 a few minutes later, which ended their tournament.
Marie Al-Ahmadieh competed against American Alyssa Mendoza in the 57 kg category
A victory for the Quebecer who had the best of her opponent in each of the three rounds. Al-Ahmadieh advances to the quarter-finals and her opponent will be Puerto Rican Ashleyann Lozada-Motta.
Montreal’s Keven Beauséjour was excluded from the 80 kg final four following his defeat against Argentina’s Abraham Gabriel Buonarrigo.
Samuel Murray was shown the exit door from the men’s singles table by Bolivian Carlos Keller Vargas in the quarter-final round. The athlete from Baie-Comeau lost by a score of 3-1 (11-9, 13-11, 14-12 and 11-6).
The Quebecer was able to bounce back in the afternoon in the men’s doubles with Coby Iwaasa by winning 3-2 (11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 8-11 and 11-7) in a marathon match against players of Guatemalan origin Edwin Aroldo Galicia and Juan José Salvatierra.
The Canadians will meet Mexicans Rodrigo Montoya and Javier Mar in the grand final on Tuesday.
Victor Baudrand took part in the final of the combined event held in the evening. He initially finished seventh in the climbing wall (boulders) with 35 points, but recovered well in the difficult climbing to climb to fourth place.
“There was a lot of pressure and I found it difficult to deal with. I kept my smile and I was happy to be there to climb, but in the end I was a little disappointed because I knew I was capable of more,” Victor shared in the mixed zone.
The hour of rest which separated the two disciplines allowed him to relax.
“I left everything behind me and did a great climb! I was physically and mentally tired! But it was a good fight, I’m happy with the way I finished the competition. »
His brother Oscar, who resides in Salt Lake City, placed sixth.
Americans Jesse Grupper, Sean Bailey and Zachary Galla swept the podium, in order.
