Canada, USA get wins at Pan Am Games

Paracas, Peru (August 9, 2019) – The penultimate day at the 2019 Pan Am Games highlighted the Medal Races for seven of the 11 events, with today featuring the equipment to be used in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

In winds hitting the mid 20s, it would be a gold medal day for two of the North American representatives as Sarah Douglas (CAN) won her Women’s Laser Radial race to claim gold, while Riley Gibbs and Anna Weis (USA) finished second in their race to secure gold in the Mixed Nacra 17 fleet.

Coming straight from her training in Japan, Douglas jumped right into the fray as she and 2018 Youth Sailing World Champion Charlotte Rose (USA) separated from the fleet, with Rose leading by one point coming into today.

“It was a fight for first place and I gave it my all to make sure I came out on top,” said Douglas. “I came here with certain goals and I worked on them. It was a really great battle with all the other countries and I’m so happy to have won gold for Canada!”

After establishing a strong lead earlier this week, Gibbs and Weis focused on keeping their final race low risk in the big wind. “We didn’t need to win the race to get the Gold, so we wanted to sail a good, low-risk race.

“The Brazilians and Argentineans put up such a good fight the whole week. It was even kind of nerve-wracking heading into today, a little bit of a sleepless night. But hats off to them, because they were pushing us the whole time.”

Among the other events, Charlie Buckingham (USA) slipped a step in the Men’s Laser to earn bronze, Alexander Heinzemann and Justin Barnes (CAN) moved up in the Men’s 49er to claim bronze, and Pedro Pascual (USA) retained his position in the Men’s RS:X to win silver. North America was shut out in the Women’s RS:X event with Farrah Hall (USA) as the top finisher in fourth.

For the full list of medalists, click here.
For medals by country, click here.

After the multiple capsizes in the Men’s 49er Medal Race, the Women’s 49erFX fleet was postponed until tomorrow and will be held along with the Open Sunfish, Mixed Lightning, Mixed Snipe, and Open Formula Kite.

Team USA Sailing Medalists (right to left): Charlie Buckingham, Charlotte Rose, Anna Weis, Riley Gibbs, Pedro Pascual

Details – Results – Tracking – Facebook – Schedule

Top North Americans in remaining events:
Open Sunfish (10 races): 2nd Luke Ramsay (CAN)
Mixed Snipe (10 races): 1st Ernesto Rodriguez/ Hallie Schiffman (USA)
Women’s 49erFX (10 races): 2nd Stephanie Roble/ Maggie Shea (USA)
Mixed Lightning (10 races): 4th Jody Swanson/ Ian Jones/ Skip Dieball (USA)
Open Formula Kite (18 races): 3rd Will Cyr (USA)

Team rosters: Canada – USA

Sailing is among the 51 sports to be contested at the 2019 Pan Am Games, with the 11 medal events to be held from August 3 to 10 in Paracas, Peru. A total of 168 athletes will be competing in Men’s and Women’s RS:X, Men’s Laser, Women’s Laser Radial, Open Sunfish, Mixed Snipe, Men’s 49er, Women’s 49erFX, Mixed Lightning, Mixed Nacra 17, and Open Formula Kite. Held every four years, the Pan Am Games attracts athletes from nations of the Americas in the year before the Summer Olympic Games.

Source: Sail Canada, US Sailing Team, Scuttlebutt