Cyclist Anne Samplonius won gold in the women's road cycling time trials to top a five-medal day for Canada at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Samplonius, an Oakville, Ont., native who now lives in Montreal, won her race in 26 minutes, 23.70 seconds. Mexico's Alessandre Grassi-Herrera was second in 27:51.19, while Brazilian Clemilda Silva took bronze in 28:15.89.
Canada's Anne Samplonius rides during her gold-medal performance in the women's road cycling time trials in Rio de Janeiro.
(Dario Lopez-Mills/Associated Press)
"There was more wind than expected on the course, compared to this morning's trial. It was actually an advantage for me," said Samplonius, a 15-year veteran of the Canadian team. "But overall it was a difficult race for me, as I had no one ahead that I could catch up to. My strategy was just to go as hard as I could."
Canada also picked up a pair of triathlon medals Sunday as Victoria's Brent McMahon captured silver in the men's race and Vancouver's Lauren Groves took bronze in the women's.
McMahon was leading in the late stages of the race at Copacabana Beach, but was caught and passed by American Andy Potts with just a few hundred metres to go.
Potts took the gold medal with a time of one hour, 52 minutes, 31.51 seconds, with McMahon right behind at 1:52:38.19.
"It was a really hard race," said McMahon, 26, who struggled to cross the line as he battled dehydration. "I wanted to go for a gold and that's what I did today."
Juraci Moreira of Brazil landed the bronze in 1:52:54.79, while Kyle Jones of Oakville, Ont., was fourth in 1:53:05.25.
Paul Tichelaar of Edmonton had the lead heading into the run — the last of the race's three stages — but dropped to 11th place.
Groves clocked a time of 1:59:50.38 in the women's race, which was won by American Julie Ertel in 1:57:23.21.
Taekwondo athlete Shannon Condie of Mississauga, Ont., came away with a silver after losing 4-0 in the 57-kilogram final to Mexican Iridia Salazar Blanco.
Canada also landed a silver in the equestrian team dressage, a medal that qualified the country for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Tom Dvorak of Hillsburgh, Ont., was third overall in the two-day competition, while Diane Creech of Caistor Centre, Ont., was fifth, and Andrea Bresee of Bjorkdale, Sask., finished ninth.
All three Canadians advanced to the individual dressage later in the Games.
In other action Sunday:
- Cristin McCarty of Saskatoon and Peggy Hyslop of Kamloops, B.C., were second to the U.S. in the women's rowing doubles race to determine lanes for the finals.
- The men's four of Brent Holmes of Peterborough, Ont., David Lamb of Berwick, Ont., Vincent Goodfellow of Dorval, Que., and Todd Keesey of Saskatoon was also second to the U.S. in the race to decide lanes.
- Mike Beres of Ottawa and Calgary's William Milroy moved into the quarter-finals of badminton men's doubles with a three-set win over Brazilians Lucas Araujo and Paulo Von Scala.
- Joseph Rogers of Ottawa and David Snider of Winnipeg lost their badminton quarter-finals match, as did the women's team of Val Loker of Laval, Que., and Vancouver's Sarah MacMaster.
- Canada's women's handball team dropped to 0-2 after getting routed 37-10 by Brazil.