TORONTO – Canadian cyclist Jasmin Glaesser won her second gold medal while the host nation’s men’s basketball team settled for silver and the men’s 4×100-metre relay team were disqualified, denying sprinter Andre De Grasse a third gold medal.
Glaesser won gold in the women’s road race Saturday, sprinting away from the pack to win the women’s road race in two hours 17 minutes seven seconds, finishing by half a wheel ahead of Cuba’s Marlies Mejias. Canada’s Allison Beveridge took bronze, 34 seconds behind Glaesser.
“I let the Cuban rider lead it out a little bit and waited until the last possible moment to jump past her,” said Glaesser, who was born in Germany but now calls Vancouver home. “When I knew I got out ahead of her, it was just the best feeling in the world.”
IN PHOTOS: Images from competition on Day 15 of the Pan Am Games
The men’s basketball team lost their bid to join the women as Pan Am champions when they were defeated 86-71 by Brazil in the gold-medal game.
Canada trailed by 25 points at one point in the third quarter. The team brought some life to Mattamy Athletic Centre when it reduced the deficit to six points, but Brazil calmly withstood the comeback bid and pulled down crucial late rebounds to keep Canada away from the ball.
Canada still earned silver, its best result in Pan Am Games history. Its previous top finish at the Games was fourth in 1983.
“I think I’m too much of a competitor right now to feel good about anything,” said Canada head coach Jay Triano. “I don’t like losing a game like that. But at the same time I think when we look back and reflect, we grew up throughout this tournament, we also grew up in this game a little bit. We got knocked on our heels but we never quit, we came back and I think the guys really played in the second half.”
Anthony Bennett led Canada with 18 points.
On the track, Gavin Smellie, De Grasse, Brendon Rodney and Aaron Brown appeared to have won the gold medal in the 4×100-metre relay when they crossed the finish line in a Pan Am Games record time of 38.06 seconds.
But a protest filed by the United States and Trinidad and Tobago over Smellie stepping on the line during the first leg of the race was upheld.
The U.S. moves from silver to gold, with Brazil taking second and Trinidad and Tobago moving up to third.
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Canada did finish on top in boxing with back-to-back gold medals.
Mandy Bujold of Kitchener, Ont., beat Marlen Esparza of the United States in a split decision in the women’s flyweight final. Bujold is the first woman to win two Pan American boxing championships.
Montreal’s Caroline Veyre defeated Argentina’s Dayana Sanchez in a split decision in the women’s lightweight final. Veyre’s win came just minutes after Bujold’s gold-medal winning performance.
Canada also won gold in the women’s team foil fencing competition with a 38-37 win over the United States. It was the first gold and sixth overall medal for Canada’s fencers at the Games.
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In athletics, Winnipeg’s Nicole Sifuentes and Toronto’s Sasha Gollish captured silver and bronze in the women’s 1,500 metres.
Sifuentes finished in 4:09.13 while Gollish crossed in 4:10.11. Muriel Coneo of Colombia won gold.
Dan MacLelland of Kitchener, Ont., added a bronze in men’s singles bowling while Ottawa’s Eugene Wang settled for bronze in men’s singles table tennis when he lost his semifinal 4-3 to Brazil’s Hugo Calderano.
The medals boosted Canada’s total to a record-breaking 212 – 77 gold, 67 silver and 68 bronze. The previous record was set during the Winnipeg 1999 Games where 196 medals were won.
The United States leads the table with 95 gold and 246 total medals.
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