Mac Neil matches Canadian mark with 4th Pan Am Games gold, tying U.S. swimmer in 50m freestyle
Canadian men's gymnasts claim 3 more medals, including gold for Dolci and Clay
Maggie Mac Neil is probably starting to feel déjà vu at the Pan Am Games.
The London, Ont., swimmer grabbed a fourth gold medal in four attempts, winning the women's 50-metre freestyle on Tuesday in Santiago, Chile.
Mac Neil, who brought home five medals from last year's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, clocked 24.84 seconds for her victory Tuesday. She shared gold with Gabi Albiero (24.84), whose American teammate Catie DeLoof took bronze in 24.88.
"I'm happy that I could tie for the win. It's still new swimming freestyle for me internationally," Mac Neil said. "The good thing is this is obviously one of my weaker events — I really miss having that extra wall. So I'm really happy with that."
WATCH | Mac Neil adds to gold-medal haul in Chile:
The 23-year-old Mac Neil has matched fellow swimmer Jessica Deglau (1999) and two others for most gold medals by a Canadian at a single Pan Am Games. She's also even with Marianne Limpert, Joanne Malar, Ralph Hutton and Deglau for most medals (six) by a Canadian swimmer at one Pan Am competition.
The national mark of eight at a single Pan Am Games is held by Willie Weiler from 1963 in artistic gymnastics.
Mac Neil will be part of the Canadian team in the women's 4x100 medley relay on Wednesday, with a heat race scheduled for 9:45 a.m. ET. The final is slated for 4:43 p.m.
She began her Pan Am Games debut teaming with Mary-Sophie Harvey, Brooklyn Douthwright and Katerine Savard to win the women's 4x100 free relay on Saturday.
Victories and Games records followed Sunday in the 100 butterfly and 100 free on Monday.
In Tuesday's race, Mac Neil was 53-100ths of a second shy of the Games mark of 24.31, set by Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace of the Bahamas eight years ago in Toronto.
Mac Neil geared up for these Pan Ams with a fourth-place performance on Oct. 15 in a stacked 100 butterfly field at a World Cup stop in Athens.
WATCH | Pan Am Games Tuesday morning highlights from Santiago, Chile:
Ottawa's Julie Brousseau, 17, won her first individual gold medal on a senior national team, winning a battle to the wall in the women's 400 individual medley. Her time of four minutes 43.76 seconds was 51-100ths faster than Lucerne Bell of the United States. Bronze went to Brazil's Gabrielle Roncatto (4:47.92).
"It was pretty close so I really had to keep pushing to try to race," said Brousseau. "To be able to actually do it is pretty cool especially at a meet like this."
In the diving pool, Pamela Ware of Greenfield Park, Que., picked up her second gold medal in Santiago with victory in the women's three-metre springboard contest.
Ware, the 30-year-old two-time Olympian, also won the one-metre event. On Tuesday, she led throughout the event to return to the top of the podium.
WATCH | Ware wins 3m springboard event:
It was her Canadian teammate Mia Vallée, however, that faced the most pressure — a win would qualify a second Olympic spot for Canada after Ware previously clinched one at the world championships.
But it wasn't to be for Vallée, whose sixth-place finish means she'll have to attend another competition in February to book her ticket to Paris.
"I knew it!" 🇨🇦❤️ <br><br>Caeli McKay had no doubts about whether her Canadian teammate Pamela Ware was going to win another Pan Am Games GOLD! 🥇 <a href="https://t.co/DXMXG9AWoL">pic.twitter.com/DXMXG9AWoL</a>
—@CBCOlympicsDolci golden again
Meanwhile, Felix Dolci continues to conquer Canadian droughts.
A day after becoming the first Canadian gymnast in 60 years to win all-around gold, Dolci ended a 20-year dry spell atop the men's floor exercise podium by winning his second gold medal with a score of 14.233 points.
Brazil's Arthur Mariano claimed silver at 13.933 points, while Colombia's Juan Larrahondo took bronze with 13.366 points.
Canadian Rene Cournoyer was seventh at 12.433 points. Dolci later added his fourth medal of the Games with bronze in the rings event.
"I think I just left it all out there and I'm really proud of the work," he said.
On Saturday, Dolci, Cournoyer, Zachary Clay, Jayson Rampersad, and William Émard captured team silver behind the United States.
Last month, Dolci helped Canada end another drought by qualifying the men's team for its first Olympics in 15 years.
WATCH | Dolci victorious in men's floor exercise:
Later, Clay and Rampersad rewrote the history books themselves with a 1-2 finish in the pommel horse.
Clay, of Chilliwack, B.C., won Canada's first-ever gold medal in the discipline, while Rampersad took silver. It's the first time a Canadian has reached the pommel horse podium since 1995.
"It's amazing, its not every time you go to a competition like this you get to go up with your teammates and nonetheless go 1-2," Clay, 28, told CBC Sports' Rob Pizzo. "This is my guy, he's my pommel guy."
Rampersad, the 20-year-old from Oakville, Ont., shared the feeling.
"I am unbelievably happy," he said. "There's no one else I'd rather come second to."
Nelson Vuilbe Morales of Puerto Rico was third with 14.133 points.
WATCH | Clay, Rampersad share podium:
WATCH | Canadians discuss 1-2 finish:
Canada led rowing at each checkpoint
Earlier, Canada won gold in the women's eight rowing event.
Kendra Hartley (Calgary), Olivia McMurray (Red Deer, Alta.), Ailzee Brien (Sainte-Agathe, Que.), Parker Illingworth (Seattle), Abby Spiers (Victoria), Shaye De Paiva (Calgary), Abigail Dent (Kenora, Ont.), Leia Till (Potomac, Md.) and coxswain Kristen Kit (St. Catharines, Ont.) led at all 500-metre checkpoints and finished the 2,000m race in six minutes 10.7 seconds.
WATCH | Canadian women take rowing gold:
The United States was second in 6:14.17 and host Chile was third in 6:17.78.
It was Canada's third rowing medal of the Games. Dent and McMurray took silver in women's coxless pair and Hartley, Illingworth, Brien and De Paiva earned bronze in women's quadruple sculls on Monday.
Kit was coxswain when Canada won women's eight gold for the first time in 29 years at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. She will also cox Canada's boat in the mixed eight A final Wednesday.
Making history and having fun listening to <a href="https://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ShaniaTwain</a> with GOLD! 🇨🇦🥇 <br><br>Canada celebrates winning gold in the women's eight rowing event at the Pan Am Games <a href="https://t.co/irTsPae2nr">pic.twitter.com/irTsPae2nr</a>
—@CBCOlympicsLlewellyn repeats as water ski champion
Water skier Dorien Llewellyn overcame a 30-point deficit, scoring 11,000 in the tricks event for his second consecutive Pan Am Games gold medal.
The 27-year-old has earned three medals in Chile after silver efforts on Monday in jump and tricks.
"To end on that trick run was amazing," he told Water Ski and Wakeboard Canada about Tuesday's event. "I'm also excited to regroup and focus on getting my foot 100 per cent."
Argentina's Tobias Giorgis and Martín Labra of Chile rounded out the medal podium.
Llewellyn realized he was in a good spot for gold after a strong showing in slalom.
"To have that moment where you celebrate and I turn around and my dad is celebrating in the boat, that's amazing," he said. "To be able to share history with him, it's something that I don't think a lot of people have and I'm truly grateful."
For Jaret Llewellyn, a retired water skier and 12-time Pan Am Games medallist, he said it was easier competing than watching his son.
Team Canada's track cyclists set a high bar with two medals on the first of four days of racing at Velodromo Parque Penalolen.
The gold medal men's sprint team from June's San Juan 2023 Pan American Track Cycling Championships reunited to take on the event once again. Comprised of Nick Wammes of Bothwell, Ont., James Hedgcock of Ancaster, Ont., and Tyler Rorke of Baden, Ont., the squad set the pace in qualifying with a winning time of 43.829 seconds.
Next, they faced Colombia in an exciting gold-medal final, where their time of 43.396 edged out Colombia's 43.421. The remaining bronze medal was captured by Mexico (43.396).
Playing off the energy from their teammates' win and the intensity of the crowd, the women's sprint team also rose to the occasion to capture bronze.
Jackie Boyle of Toronto, Sarah Orban of Calgary and Emy Savard of Saguenay, Que., mimicked the men's result by beating Colombia by less than a second: Canada's time was 48.498s while Colombia stopped the clock at 48.836s. They were joined on the podium by Mexico with gold (47.134s) and the U.S. with silver (48.001).
WATCH | Canada wins track cycling gold:
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With files from The Canadian Press
