Canada won two rowing medals this morning at the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (July 14 to 19).
The men's pair of Chris Jarvis of St. Catharines, Ont. and Dan Casaca of Toronto picked up rowing's first gold medal at these games. The U.S. was second, followed by Brazil.
"Dan and I have been excited about racing together since selection to the Pan Am team last month. Our expectations were set high and we enjoyed reaching them and striding away from our competition," said Jarvis, who was in the men's pair event at the 2004 Olympics and rowed in the men's quad earlier this year.
Canada's time was 6:34.26 in windy conditions. "On the way to the start, it was pretty rough, but it wasn't as bad at the start," said Casaca. "We thought that in our race for lanes earlier this week, that people were playing games and not showing their true potential. We saw an excellent race for second (6:37.89) and third (6:38.16) today."
The Canadian women's pair picked up silver in a strong performance earlier this morning.
"The conditions were definitely a challenge," said Nathalie Maurer of North Vancouver, B.C., who is rowing with Zoe Hoskins of Edmonton, Alta. at this regatta. "Although we had a clean start, we struggled about half way down the course - it was choppy and the Chileans handled that well. It was an exciting finish. We are happy with silver today." Maurer and Hoskins will be a part of the women's quad (with Cristin McCarty and Peggy Hyslop), racing on Thursday.
Chile won its first gold medal of these games in 7:28.94, Canada was second in 7:30.05 and the U.S. was third in 7:36.12 in the women's pair event.
In the lightweight men's double, Andrew Borden (Toronto) and John Haver (Saskatoon, Sask.) were sixth in their final. Cuba, the U.S. and Chile took home medals in this very competitive event. Races are held at the Lagoa Rowing Centre, with Canadians in the women's double, lightweight women's double and men's four final tomorrow.