Women kayakers win Canada’s 1st Pan Am Games gold medal

Canada’s women’s K4 500-metre canoeing team brought home the country’s first gold medal of the Pan American Games on Sunday.

The team of Alanna Braylougheed, Alexa Kaien Irvin, Andreanne Langlois and Anna Negulic finished in one minute 34.316 seconds.

“We make sure we know the race plan and we follow it and at the end we debrief and say what we like and what we didn’t like,” said Langlois. “But for this race I would say it was pretty awesome the whole way so we have nothing to say about it except that it was perfect.”

Mexico took silver 0.33 seconds behind the Canadians and Argentina was third 1.29 seconds back of the winners.

The Canadian men finished just off the podium in the same event, 1.765 seconds back of the gold medallists from Argentina.

Cuba was second and Mexico took bronze, just 0.765 second ahead of Canada’s Dominik Crete, Eric Ellery, Marshall Hughes and Jarret Kenke.

Rugby Sevens

The Canadian women’s rugby sevens team successfully defended its Pan Am Games title.

Asia Hogan-Rochester scored three tries and Breanne Nicholas added another in a 24-10 win over the United States.

“The Pan Ams is always a tough competition so to be able to come with a different squad that we had in Toronto in 2015 and win again is incredible,” said Kayla Moleschi.

The Canadian men’s side settled for silver after dropping a 33-10 decision to Argentina. Josiah Morra and Sean Duke scored tries for Canada.

“It was a very tough game. We had a good start with an early try but fair play to Argentina, they put you under a lot of pressure defensively and we just could not find a way to break that today,” said Nathan Hirayama.

Taekwondo

Skylar Park earned silver in the women’s under 57 kilogram category, falling to American Anastasija Zolotic 32-22 in the final.

The 20-year-old Winnipeg native beat Fernanda Aguirre 17-11 and Argentina’s Gianella Evolo as part of a three-match day to reach the gold-medal final.

“It’s the Pan Am Games so I’m happy with the silver medal,” said Park. “Obviously I want gold so I’m disappointed with that. But the ultimate goal is the Olympic Games and we’re working towards that.”

Meanwhile, Abbas Assadian Jr. and Hervan Nkogho both took home bronze medals in their events.

Toronto’s Assadian Jr. grabbed a medal in men’s Individual Poomsae, while Nkogho, from Quebec City, had a third-place finish in the men’s under 68 kilogram competition.

“I am very happy. I worked hard for this,” said Nkogho.

Squash

Canada took home silver medals in both men’s and women’s doubles.

Montreal’s Shawn Delierre and partner Nicholas Sachvie of St. Catherines, Ont., fell in three sets to the Americans in men’s play.

Meanwhile, Samantha Cornett of Deep River, Ont., and Calgary’s Danielle Letourneau were also defeated by the U.S., losing in straight sets.

“I think both of us are a bit disappointed with the actual result. But we played our absolute hardest,” said Cornett.

Gymnastics

Rene Cournoyer, Zachary Clay, Justin Karstadt, Cory Paterson, and Samuel Zakutney capped off Canada’s medal haul on Day 3 by earning bronze in the artistic team event.

Brazil captured gold, followed by the United States.