Maggie Mac Neil makes Pan Am Games history for Canada with 5th swimming gold in Chile
Fellow Canadians Sydney Pickrem and Finlay Knox also deliver victories in the pool
Maggie Mac Neil swam the butterfly portion of the women's 4x100-metre medley relay on Wednesday and helped Canada to victory for its 23rd medal in the pool at the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile.
It was the fifth win of these Games for Mac Neil, who passed fellow swimmer Jessica Deglau (1999), table tennis player Lijuan Geng (1995) and gymnast Ernestine Russell-Carter (1959) for most gold medals by a Canadian at a single Pan Am Games.
The 23-year-old Mac Neil of London, Ont., has also won gold in women's 100 butterfly, 100 freestyle along with relays in the 50 free and 100 free.
"It's so special and obviously there was pressure on myself to do well," Mac Neil told Swimming Canada. "I also wanted to represent Panam Sports well as they chose me [to be a Games Ambassador] and obviously Canada as well."
Mac Neil was also a member of the mixed relay teams that picked up silver and bronze. She and Mary-Sophie Harvey each earned seven medals in Santiago, an all-time best among Canadian swimmers.
Marianne Limpert and Joanne Malar (1995), Ralph Hutton (1967) and Deglau won six.
The 4x100 relay victory during the first day of swimming competition last Saturday is most memorable to Mac Neil, who believes it set the tone for the Canadian team.
She added pulling out Wednesday's win on the final day of swim events was a demonstration of the squad's spirit and grit when the athletes were "tired and hungry."
On Wednesday, Danielle Hanus and Rachel Nicol put Canada in silver-medal position at the Aquatics Center following the backstroke and breaststroke. Mac Neil, the reigning Olympic champion in the butterfly, entered the pool with her team trailing the United States by 25-100ths of a second.
One hundred metres later, the Canadians had clocked a time of three minutes 4.94 seconds and led by 54-100ths as Harvey took over in the freestyle. With 50 metres left, Catie DeLoof cut into the deficit and Canada only led by 11-100ths, but Harvey held her off and touched the wall in 3:58.76.
The Americans clocked 3:59.39 and Mexico was awarded the bronze medal after a 4:04.73 performance, just 6-100ths ahead of fourth-place Colombia.
Of Canada's 25 swimming medals, 11 were gold, the most at a Pan Am Games held outside the country — the 1999 team won 13 in Winnipeg. The 25 medals are the most at a Games outside Canada since the 28 from San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1979.
Pickrem posts Games record
Earlier, Sydney Pickrem made it two gold medals and one Pan Am Games record in Chile, cruising to victory in 2:09.04 in the women's 200 individual medley.
Pickrem, 26, took down the Games record of 2:10.51 by Caitlin Leverenz of the United States from 2015 in Toronto.
It is also 63-100ths faster than the Halifax native's winning time in the event at the recent World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Athens. In May, she was also victorious in the 200 IM in 2:08.89 at the London International Meet.
Making her second Pan Am Games appearance, Pickrem also captured gold on Monday in a 1-2 Canadian finish with Kelsey Wog.
Harvey of Trois-Rivieres, Que., finished behind Pickrem on Wednesday for silver in 2:11.92, while Helen Noble (2:14.19) of the United States took bronze.
"I kept telling the coaches to put me last [in Wednesday's medley relay] because I wanted to have that pressure," Harvey said. "It was extra hard because I had the 200 IM [earlier] and it really hurt the last 50 [metres]. But that's OK, I wanted to step up for Canada."
Harvey reached the medal podium in four of five events in her 2019 Pan Am Games debut in Lima.
In the men's 200 IM, Finlay Knox of Okotoks, Alta., overtook the field and claimed the first gold medal by Canadian men in the pool at these Games.
The 2021 Olympian touched the wall in 1:58.74, 1.15 seconds ahead of Arsenio Bustos of the U.S., while bronze went to Brazil's Leonardo Coelho (2:00.58). Collyn Gagne of Milton, Ont., was fourth (2:00.79).
"It's my first international win so I'm happy with that," said Knox, 22.
Canada wins 4 badminton gold medals
The final day of badminton competition in Santiago saw Canada take home gold in four of the five events.
Catherine Choi of Markham, Ont., and Edmonton's Josephine Wu got things started on Wednesday with gold in women's doubles, beating American twins Annie and Kerry Xu 2-1 (21-18, 10-21, 21-17).
The top-seeded Canadian duo reached the final without dropping a game.
Wu later returned to the court to help Canada win the mixed doubles gold-medal match, teaming up with Ty Lindeman of St. Alberta, Alta., to top Vinson Chiu and Jennie Gai of the U.S. 2-1 (17-21, 21-17, 21-19).
Canada also topped the men's doubles podium.
Adam Dong of Burlington, Ont., and Nyl Yakura of Pickering, Ont., captured gold by beating Brazil's Fabrício Farias and Davi Silva 2-1 (19-21, 21-15, 21-18).
No. 1 seed Brian Yang won gold in men's singles with a sweep of Kevin Cordón of Guatemala, who is part of the independent athletes team.
The 21-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., was perfect throughout the tournament, winning eight straight games after receiving a bye into the second round — upgrading his silver medal from the 2019 edition.
Top Canadian player Michelle Li, a four-time Pan Am Games gold medallist, was forced to miss these Games due to an injury.
Canada leads the all-time Pan Am Games medal table in badminton with 60, including 25 gold.
In track cycling, the Canadian quartet of Devaney Collier, Fiona Majendie, Kiara Lylyk and Ruby West won gold in women's team pursuit with a victory over Mexico's Lizbeth Salazar, María Gaxiola, Victoria Velasco and Yareli Acevedo in Wednesday's final.
The Canadians clocked a time of 4:23.000 at the Velodromo Parque Penalolen.
"We used a young alternate who shows a lot of promise today and we managed to get it done with a really fast time, too," said Canada coach Phil Abbott of Lylyk, who was a late substitute after Ngaire Barraclough withdrew due to illness.
With files from The Canadian Press, Cycling Canada
