Marco Arop of Edmonton, Alberta and Genevieve Lalonde of Montreal, Quebec each won gold medals for Canada in athletics on Saturday at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. Arop won the gold medal in the men’s 800 metres and Lalonde won the gold medal in the women’s 3000 metre steeplechase.
In the men’s 800 metres, Arop set a Pan American Games record with a time of one minute, 44.25 seconds. Wesley Vazquez of Puerto Rico won the silver medal with a time of 1:44.48. Ryan Sanchez Estrada of Puerto Rico won the bronze medal with a time of 1:45.19. Arop reached the podium by 3.23 seconds over fourth place finisher Bryce Hoppel of the United States, who had a time of 1:47.48.
In the women’s 3000 metres, Lalonde had a winning time of 9:41.45. Marisa Howard of the United States won the silver medal with a time of 9:43.78. Belen Casetta of Argentina won the bronze medal with a time of 9:44.46. Lalonde reached the podium by 14.74 seconds over Tatiane Da Silva of Brazil, who was in fourth place with a time of 9:56.19.
The medals for Arop and Lalonde will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. As of Saturday, Canada had 33 gold medals at the 2019 Pan American Games and 148 medals overall. Team Canada also had 64 silver medals and 51 bronze medals. Canada’s 148 medals was third overall behind the United States at 281 medals and Brazil at 164 medals.
