Canada wins triple gold at canoe/kayak Pan-Ams
Last Updated: Monday, July 6, 2009 | 12:45 AM ET
The Canadian Press
Mallorie Nicholson, seen here racing at the Canada Games, won gold Sunday at the Pan American canoe and kayak championships in Brazil. (Jacques Boissinot/Canadian Press)Mallorie Nicholson of Oakville, Ont., and the canoe pairs team of Jenna Marks and Maria Halavrezos of Dartmouth, N.S., collected their third gold medals Sunday in the 200-metre finals at the Pan American canoe and kayak championships in Rio de Janeiro.
Canada finished the three-day competition with 23 medals: 11 gold, 10 silver and two bronze.
Nicholson won the three women's canoe singles (C-1) events of 200, 500 and 1,000 metres, while Marks and Halavrezos did the same in the women's C-2.
Other Canadian gold medallists on the weekend were: Neil Lang of Waverley, N.S., and Wesley Hammer of Dartmouth in the K-2 1,000 and Hughes Fournel of Lachine, Que., and Christopher Mehak of Oakville in the K-2 500.
Canadian women winners included Nicole Brown of Dartmouth and Marie-Pier Langlois of Lac-Beauport, Que., in the K-2 500; Erika Taras of Dartmouth in the K-1 200; and Langlois and Hannah Vaughan of Dartmouth in the K-2 200.
"It was a really exciting race," Vaughan said about her K-2 200 win with Langlois. "We didn't have our best start, which was unusual, but we were able to make a pretty dramatic pass in the last 100 metres to win.
"Marie-Pier and I raced together last year a couple of times, so that helped. We have good chemistry in the boat."
Medal winners
Canadian women silver medallists included: Vaughan and Tiera McLeod of Regina in the K-2 1,000; McLeod in the K-1 500; the women's K-4 200 and 500 with Taras, Brown, McLeod and Vaughan.
The men's silver medallists were: the K-4 500 with Geoffrey Clarke of Oakville, Fournel, Mehak and Phillippe Duchesneau of Sherbrooke, Que.; Aaron Rublee of Oakville in the C-1 200 and 500; Dustin Shaw of Mississauga, Ont., and Antoine Meunier of Lac-Beauport in the C-2 200 and 500 and Fournel in the K-1 200.
"I lost to the same Brazilian as last year, but this time I was closer," said Fournel, who was edged by 0.26 seconds for the gold. "Still, I'm pleased. The 200 is my specialty. I've always been a sprinter and I tend to have very good starts."
Bronze medals were earned by Lang in the K-1 1,000 and Rublee in the C-1 1,000.
