Canada’s Marco Arop and Genevieve Lalonde on Saturday shattered Pan American Games records, and the US won four golds as the track-and-field competition at the 17-day sports gathering neared a close.
Sudan-born Arop finished in 1 minute, 44.25 seconds to win the 800m ahead of Puerto Rico’s Wesley Vazquez (1:44.48), with both dropping under Cuban Yeimer Lopez’s 10-year-old Games record of 1:44.58.
“I’m on top of the world right now,” 20-year-old Arop said. “I was just hoping to win a medal for Canada and to have a personal record and Pan American record is just a bonus.”
Photo: AFP
Lalonde blitzed the women’s 3,000m steeplechase record by almost seven seconds, the bronze medalist at the 2015 Games stepping up to gold in 9:41:45.
“I definitely had to work for it at the end, dropping all my energy into that last barrier and sprinting home,” Lalonde said. “To bring that Pan American Games record home to Canada is special.”
The US’ Marisa Howard (9:43.78) and Argentina’s Belen Casetta (9:44.46) were also faster than the previous record of 9:48.12 that Ashley Higginson of the US set in 2015.
Another record fell in the men’s javelin when Grenada’s Anderson Peters threw 87.31m to better Cuba’s 2011 Games champion Guillermo Martinez (87.20m).
The US also had a banner day in the field.
Gwen Berry (74.62m) and Brooke Andersen (71.07m) led the US to gold and silver in the women’s hammer throw before compatriot Omar Craddock won the men’s triple jump, bounding 17.42m to narrowly defeat Cuba’s Jordan Diaz (17.38m)
US collegiate champion Chris Nilsen cleared 5.76m on his third attempt for the pole vault title.
On the track, the US won the women’s 4x400m relay in 3:26.46, but Colombia earned a shock win in the men’s edition, clocking 3:01.41 to the US’ 3:01.72.
Shane Brathwaite brought gold for Barbados, edging Freddie Crittenden of the US by one-hundredth of a second to win the 110m hurdles in 13.31, while Brazil’s Altobeli da Silva won the men’s 3,000m steeplechase in 8:30.73.
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