The Canadian beach volleyball duo of Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson have advanced to the women’s gold-medal match at the Pan American Games.
Canada’s flag-bearers at the opening ceremonies in Santiago, Chile, swept Argentina’s Ana Maria Gallay and Gabriela Fernanda Pereyra 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) in Thursday’s semifinal.
The Toronto athletes will next play Brazil’s Ana Patricia Ramos and Eduarda Santos Lisboa, who posted a 2-0 (21-11, 21-18) win over the American duo of Nicole Quiggle and Sarah Schermerhorn Murphy.
Medal games were set for Friday.
In the ring, Tammara Thibeault earned a berth at next year’s Paris Olympics with a semifinal win over Citlalli Vanessa Ortiz of Mexico by unanimous decision.
The top two boxers in each weight class qualified for the 2024 Games.
The 26-year-old from Shawinigan, Que., meets Panama’s Atheyna Bylon for Pan Am Games middleweight gold Friday in a rematch of their 2022 world championship final.
“I still have a fight tomorrow. Enjoy this for a little bit. Recover, rest and then get back on it tomorrow,” Thibeault said.
Victoria’s Bryan Colwell (men’s 92 kg), Montreal’s Junior Petanqui (men’s 71 kg), Charlie Cavanagh of Saint John, N.B. (women’s 66 kg) and McKenzie Wright of Oakville, Ont., (women’s 50 kg) just missed out on an Olympic berth. They each earned a bronze medal for a semifinal loss.
Bronze-medal bouts aren’t fought at the Pan Am Games.
In track cycling, Canada earned a berth in Friday’s gold-medal final in men’s team pursuit.
Chris Ernst of Kitchener, Ont., Michael Foley of Milton, Ont., Carson Mattern of Ancaster, Ont., and Vancouver’s Sean Richardson set a new Pan Am record with a qualifying time of three minutes 55.981 seconds.
In shooting, Toronto’s Tugrul Ozer won gold in the men’s 10-metre air pistol with a Pan Am Games record score of 240.5 points. His result secured a berth for Canada at the 2024 Olympics.
Ozer battled American James Hall throughout the event before taking the lead for good in the fifth of nine series.
Hall finished second with 239.3 points, followed by Brazil’s Felipe Wu with 215.3.
In other results, Samuel Murray of Baie-Comeau, Que., and Coby Iwaasa of Lethbridge, Alta., took silver in men’s team racquetball after falling 2-0 to Bolivia, and Calgary’s Kelly Fitzsimmons and Vancouver’s Devan Wiebe earned bronze in the modern pentathlon relay.
Canada has won 83 medals (29 gold, 24 silver, 30 bronze) after six days of competition.
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