© Copyright – 2015 – Athletics Illustrated
Canada enjoyed another medal haul on Friday, July 24 during the 2015 Toronto Pan American Games.
Nate Brannen of Cambridge, Ontario and Charles Philibert-Thiboutot of Quebec, QC, competed in the 1500-metre distance event earning a silver and bronze medal, respectively, which required a very strong finish kick. First place went to American Andrew Wheating. The times were 3:41.22, 3:41.29 and 3:41.97, in that order.
Andre De Grasse of Scarborough doubled down with two gold medals in two events, the 100m and 200m sprints. He has run as fast as 9.95 officially and 9.75 wind-aided for the 100m and in the 200m entered the meet with the Canadian record of 20:03. He won in a new Canadian record of 19.88. The Pan Am record was just 19.80 – he was close. De Grasse is a two-time NCAA Division 1 national champion.
Genevieve Lalonde who competes for the Speed River Track and Field Club out of Guelph took bronze in the 3,000m steeplechase in the time of 9:53.03. First and second place went to Americans Ashley Higginson and Shalaya Kipp who crossed the line in the time of 9:48.12 and 9:49.96, respectively. Lalonde owns a personal best time of 9:35.69, which she set in June in New York City.
Winnipeg’s Erin Teschuck finished in fourth place in the time of 10:02.33.
Christabel Nettey won gold in the long jump with her 6.90m performance over Bianca Stuart of the Bahamas and American Sha’Keela Saunders, who jumped as far as 6.69 and 6.66m, respectively. Nettey is having her best season to date. She owns the national record of 6.99m, which she has set in both indoors and outdoor competition.
The heptathlon started today, completing four events, 100m hurdles, shot put, 200m sprint and high jump. They will finish the event tomorrow with a long jump, javelin and 800m race.
Friday’s full results are here.
Saturday, will see the men’s marathon start the day off at 7:05 AM EST. The weather forecast indicates very warm temperatures for an endurance event with lows of 21 after midnight and highs of near 30, with high humidity.
Nicole Sifuentes and Sasha Gollish will be racing the 1500m distance. Gollish has jumped into the Canadian middle-distance scene recently after years in the triathlon, while Sifuentes is one of Canada’s strongest middle-distance runners. She owns a bronze medal from the 2014 World indoor championships. Sifuentes is a genuine threat for a medal. She enters the race seeded number one, with the fastest season best time of 4:06.82 and the fastest lifetime best of 4:04.65. Gollish’s personal and season bests are the second fastest at 4:07.08. These two women could go gold – silver Saturday.
Canada has two entries in the men’s 5,000m. Black Creek’s Cam Levins is a favourite to medal. He is a 2012 London Olympian and the Canadian record holder in the 10,000m event with his best from this year at 27:07.51.
He has run the second fastest 5,000m in Canadian history. He has the fastest season best at 13:20.68 and the fastest lifetime best at 13:15.19. His main competition is American Garrett Heath who ran his lifetime best this season with a 13:16.31 and Juan Luis Barrios with a 13:15.71 and a lifetime best of 13:09.81. Barrios raced the 10,000m distance three days ago, finishing third to Canada’s Mo Ahmed and American Aron Rono. Barrios finished in the time of 28:51.57. It will be interesting to see if Barrios is fully recovered from the 10,000m.
The other Canadian in the event is Vancouver’s Luc Bruchet who has run as fast as 13:39.91 this season and his lifetime best is six seconds faster.
The full day’s schedule is here.
