Ana Guevara of Mexico easily won gold in the women's 400m at the Pan American Games. Anier Garcia of Cuba, however, surprisingly failed to reach the final in the 110m hurdles and may miss the upcoming world championships with an injury.
World champion Guevara won Friday despite missing out on a competition record while Olympic champion Garcia finished fifth in his semifinal heat.
"I knew I had a tear in my left thigh, but yesterday I felt a bit better and decided to compete," said Garcia, who finished in 13.83. "As soon as the race started, I realized I could not attack the hurdles.
"I couldn't do anything."
Guevara, who will try to defend her title in Paris later this month, clocked 50.36 seconds, beating silver-medalist Hazel Ann Regis of Grenada and Aliann Pompey of Guyana.
Guevara had said prior to the race that she was aiming to break the regional record of 49.61, set in 1991 by Cuba's Ana Fidelia Quirot.
"It was difficult to break the record in this particular race. It was very humid and stuffy," Guevava said.
Adriana Fernandez of Mexico completed a sweep in distance running, adding the 10,000 gold to the 5,000 title she won Wednesday, while Dominican Juana Rosario won the high jump.
Also, Canada's Jason Tunks won the men's discus with a throw of 63.70m while Americans Toby Stevenson and Russ Buller took the first two spots in the men's pole vault and Roxana Diaz won the women's 200m.
In the men's 50km walk, German Sanchez gave Mexico its first gold medal in an event it usually dominates at these games. Sanchez finished in 4:05:02.
In other athletics events, Kenny Brokenburr of the US won the men's 200m while countrymen Mitch Potter took the 400m and Tiffany Lott-Hogan won the heptathlon. Cuba added another gold to its tally, this time from Mabel Gay in the women's triple jump.
Also Friday, Marcelo Rios of Chile and Fernando Meligeni of Brazil advanced to the semifinals in men's tennis.
Rios, a former world No. 1, beat Miguel Gallardo of Mexico 7-6 (1), 6-1. He will face Alexander Kim of the US in the last four. Meligeni topped Jeffrey Morrison of the US 6-3, 6-4. The Brazilian will next play Jose de Armas of Venezuela.
Argentina stayed unbeaten in men's soccer, coming from behind to beat Mexico 4-3. The Argentines clinched first place in the group, meaning they should avoid co-favorite Brazil in Tuesday's semifinals. Mexico also advanced.
In men's volleyball, Brazil clinched a spot in the semifinals after beating Cuba 3-0.
The Brazilians won 25-14, 25-17, 29-27 to finish first in Group B. Canada eliminated Puerto Rico 3-0 in the other group match, 25-17, 27-25, 25-21.
Cuba can advance to the semifinals with a win over Dominican Republic on Sunday while Canada takes on Venezuela.
The US women's basketball team edged Brazil 75-69 in overtime to reach the gold-medal match.
RSS