© Copyright – 2019 – Athletics Illustrated
For Canadian athletes, all that glittered was silver on Friday in Lima, Peru at the 2019 Pan Am Games.
On the track, Calgary’s Jessica O’Connell finished second in the 5,000-metre event with a time of 15:36.08. The 30-year-old finished just a little more than half a second back of 27-year-old Laura Galvan-Rodriguez of Mexico (15:35.47). It was a strong performance from one of Canada’s most consistent 5K runners.
O’Connell told Athletics Illustrated, “It was great! I really truly sprinted as hard as I could and left it all out there, which is a very satisfying feeling!”
The third-place finisher was Kim Conley of the US less than one second back of O’Connell at 15:36.95.
“I think I passed Conley with 150m to go, while Rodriquez took the lead with 300m to go,” said O’Connell. “I am not sure, it’s all a blur.”
O’Connell’s personal best is 15:06.44 from the 2015 Payton Jordan Invitational. Conley’s best is very close at 15:05.20 from the Hengelo meet in June this year; pretty good for the 33-year-old. Rodriquez with a best of 15:27.26 from July this year tactically outran her competition allowing fellow Mexican Luz-Mery Rojas to lead the race for 4K, before being passed by Conley, Rodriquez followed suit and closed the final km in approximately 2:55.
O’Connell qualified for the games with a 15:10.64 performance on June 13ththis year.
The standard needed to qualify for the Pan Am Games was 16:48.00. Thirty Canadian athletes ran under the standard, however, a maximum of three could be nominated. The fastest qualifier was Gabriela Debues-Stafford of Toronto with her 14:51.59 from May 30th this year. The performance is a pending national record. The previous record was held by Courtenay Babcock from 2003 at 15:45.98.
Debues-Stafford is focussing on the 1500m distance, which she also has the pending national record for from July this year at 4:00.26, just one-hundredth of a second faster than Lynn Kanuka (Williams) 1985 performance of 4:00.27 – it was a long time coming.
National record holder Brittany Crew (18.69m NR) took silver in the women’s shot put with a new personal best of 19.07m. Jamaica’s Danniel Thomas won with a put of 19.55, while American Jessica Ramsey managed a season-best of 19.01m.
Canadian Sarah Mitton tossed a 17.62m shot.
Also, a national record holder, Liz Gleadle of Vancouver (64.83m NR) earned a silver medal in the javelin throw competition with a 63.30m toss. American Kara Winger earned gold with a season-best 64.92, while American Ariana Ince earned bronze going 62.32m.
In the high jump, Michael Mason earned a silver medal with a 2.28m leap. The winner was Enrique Zayas Fernandez with a 2.30m jump. The third-place finisher was Roberto Ruisanchez at 2.26.
In the women’s 4 x 100m relay, Canada earned a silver medal behind Brazil and just ahead of the Americans. The three teams crossed the finish line in 43.04, 43.37 and 43.39, respectively.
In the men’s 10,000m event, Canada finished out of the medals, however, Rory Linkletter ran a competitive race finishing sixth overall in the time of 28:38.49, 12 seconds off the lead, which was won by Brazil’s Ederson Pereira in 28:27.47. In second was Reid Buchanan of Mammoth Lakes in 28:28.41.
American Lawli Lalang took bronze with his 28:31.75 performance.
Full results are available, here>>
