Sarah Mitton and Charles Philibert-Thiboutot win Pan American Games gold

Sarah Mitton (Facebook)

Two Canadians won gold medals at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile on Thursday. They were Sarah Mitton of Liverpool, Nova Scotia in the women’s shot put, and Charles Philbert-Thiboutot of Quebec City, Quebec in the men’s 1500 metres.

In the women’s shot put, Mitton had a winning throw of 19.19 metres. Rosa Angelica Ramirez of the Dominican Republic won the silver medal with 17.99 metres. Adelaide Aquilla of the United States won the bronze medal with a throw of 17.73 metres. Mitton earned a medal by 2.34 metres over Layselis Rosa Jimenez of Cuba, who had a fourth place throw of 16.85 metres.

In the men’s 1500 metres, Philbert-Thiboutot had a winning time of 3:39.74. It was a 1-2 Canadian finish as Robert Heppenstall of Hamilton, Ontario won the silver medal with a time of 3:39.76. Casey Comber of the United States won the bronze medal with a time of 3:39.90. Philbert-Thiboutot earned a medal by 0.38 seconds over Robert Napolitano of Puerto Rico, who had a fourth place time of 3:40.12.

Team Canada won four more silver medals. Hannah Taylor of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island won silver in women’s 57 kilogram freestyle wrestling, Dylan French of Surrey, British Columbia, Fynn Fafard of Lumsden, Saskatchewan, and Nicholas Zhang of Richmond, British Columbia won silver in the men’s team epee fencing, Sabrina Fang of Kitchener, Ontario, Jessica Guo of Toronto, Ontario won silver in the women’s team foil fencing, and Mitch Hupe of Winnipeg, Manitoba and Francois Lavoie of Quebec City won silver in the men’s doubles bowling.

Team Canada won three bronze medals. Olivia Di Bacco of Orillia, Ontario placed third in women’s 68 kilogram wrestling, Julie-Anne Staehli placed third in the women’s 5000 metres, and Hunter Lee of Flin Flon, Manitoba placed third in men’s 86 kilogram wrestling.

Canada now has 126 medals (37 gold medals, 39 silver medals, and 50 bronze medals). They are third in the overall medal standings after Thursday. The United States lead with 212 medals and Brazil is in second with 145 medals.

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